Quickstep Alphavinir managed to pull off the same feat twice in two days in Ituria Basque Country, but failed to reach half a wheel on the line as Julian Alaphilippe was first to the line in Amrio to local favorite Pero Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) .

Stage 3 in Iturria was the hardest stage of the week's racing, including two climbs, the 1km, 13% Opelola and the 3.6km, 7% Ozeka; after 181km of racing, victory was contested among a group of just 13 GC winners.

Alaphilippe's teammate Remco Evenpole was one of them, again setting up the world champion on the final corner.

"I decided to do the same thing I did yesterday, but I think I started my sprint two seconds too early.

"It was a really hard finish straight with a bit of a headwind. It's a shame, but I think first and second is not a bad start to the week."

The young Belgian was struggling on the climbs in the final stages of the race, as Adam Yates of the Ineos Grenadiers team attacked several times in Ozeka, dropping back to the back of the lead pack at one point.

An attack launched by Bilbao on a short steep hill with 13km to go also put him on the back foot, but he quickly came back.

"It was unbelievable," Evenpoel said of the final. "The two big climbs in the final were really tough. Especially when Yates attacked on the [second] climb, it was really hard. I just rode at a big pace so I could at least stay with the group.

"There was a conversation along the way between me, Yates, [Primoz] Roglic, and the leading riders. They said let's run to the finish and sprint. Bilbao ran as fast as he could."

"I was actually going to pick up the pace a bit on the climb to let Julien conserve his energy. But he attacked. I just kept going and got back to the group on the big road."

Evenpoel concluded by saying, without much conviction, that he hoped the coming stages would be a little less tough. There are far more climbs ahead in the remaining few stages, including the famous Alto de Arate summit on the final day.

"Hopefully it will be a little less hard than today, but I don't think the Basque Country is known as an easy area. 'The 1km climb was really brutal, bad concrete slabs. I've never been on a climb that steep. The second climb suited me a little bit better, but Yates had a big attack on me and I was already suffering."

"Hopefully I will recover well and tomorrow I will be back climbing with the GC guys. I think the group that arrived today will be the group that will be competing for GC this week."