Seixas dominant again in the Tour of the Basque Country as rival drops out

Axel Laurance has won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country. The Frenchman out sprinted his fellow attacker Igor Arrieta after a long day in the breakaway. Isaac del Toro had to abandon after a crash.

So far the Tour of the Basque Country has been a playground for the young Paul Seixas. Two stages, two convincing victories. An incredibly impressive result from the 19-year-old Frenchman, but he was not yet finished. Today too, the Decathlon CMA CGM team leader would have a chance to complete his hat-trick.

For that, however, Seixas would have to show his explosivity — something that was still somewhat untested beforehand. With three climbs and a couple of steep stretches at the end, the finale promised to be very exciting. Could anyone still keep Seixas from victory in this Tour of the Basque Country?

In the Basque-style flat approach — a rolling course, that is — the peloton was restless for a long time. After sixty kilometres there was still no breakaway, as escape attempts were continuously neutralised. The riders had probably realised they needed to try something different to beat the untouchable Seixas this week.

The many breakaway attempts ultimately resulted in a leading group of no fewer than fifteen riders. Big names including Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), Guillaume Martin (Groupama FDJ) and Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers) were present.

In the peloton, the Decathlon CMA CGM riders immediately knew what awaited them as they took on the pace-setting duties.

Just after the breakaway had departed, the Tour of the Basque Country lost one of its star attractions. Isaac del Toro crashed and had to abandon the race. He first tried to continue riding, but quickly noticed too many consequences from his crash.

Even though the Mexican from UAE was not in his best form, the race still lost one of its favourites. Not to mention the potential impact on the rest of his season.

Moreover, other big names were involved in Del Toro's crash. Visma | Lease a Bike team leader Ben Tulett was also on the ground for a long time. The Brit was, however, able to continue. Alex Baudin, who in the second stage was climbing with the best, also hit the tarmac. Fortunately, the Frenchman was also able to continue.

In the peloton, Decathlon CMA CGM received help from Cofidis at the head of the bunch. The French team had confidence in Alex Aranburu and gave Seixas's men a helping hand. As a result, the breakaway never truly gained a large advantage.

Also because the cooperation was not optimal. Laurance did not take any turns and saved himself for a possible final sprint — something that did not sit well with some of his fellow escapees.

On the slopes of the Bikotx Gane (8 km at 4.9%), the breakaway group duly blew apart. Dutchman Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education - Easypost) was responsible for that by attacking early. Meanwhile, Tudor were also contributing in the peloton, but surprisingly enough it was team leader Julian Alaphilippe himself doing the work. The breakaway's advantage had grown back to two minutes as a result of Van der Lee's acceleration.

In the peloton, the energy ultimately seemed to drain away. It rode across the full width of the road and so Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Adrià Pericas (UAE) decided to attack.

Up front, meanwhile, it was Laurance and Igor Arrieta (UAE) who had broken free from their fellow escapees. The group containing Van der Lee, Van Wilder and Fortunato among others followed at around twenty seconds.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek decided in the peloton to finally join forces and resume the chase. With a deficit of almost three minutes with twenty kilometres to go, however, they appeared to be too late. Particularly because the two men up front were working together very well.

When it was clear that the peloton was out of contention, focus shifted back to the front. The leading duo worked together outstandingly well. Even with the knowledge that Laurance on paper has a strong sprint in his legs, the Spaniard did not skip a single turn. The chasers meanwhile lost ever more time, meaning the duo would likely battle for the victory between themselves.

In the final eight kilometres, with three short climbs were still on the programme, an attack from Arrieta in particular was expected. It was surprisingly Laurance who tried it on the penultimate uphill stretch, even though the Frenchman could normally also count on his sprint. The INEOS rider did not truly get away, however, and so it looked like they would sprinter it out.

Arrieta did not take over after Laurance's attack and so the Frenchman had to start from the front. They did not have much time to play poker, however, as the chasers followed at only half a minute.

Arrieta went early at three hundred metres, but the Frenchman immediately latched onto his wheel. Laurance was able to profit perfectly from the lead-out and won the sprint convincingly. Seixas later still won the sprint in the peloton.