Eddie Dunbar has ceded time on a difficult finale during stage 2 of Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) today, with his Ineos Grenadiers team mate Richard Carapaz finishing next to him after a crash.
The 154.8km stage from Zalla to Sestao featured a late climb on which the early breakaway was recaptured and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) briefly attacked off the front just after the Carapaz crash.
Yesterday's stage 1 TT winner, and race leader, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) made sure not to let them ride away and when Pogačar and Gaudu were caught Roglič went clear in a dangerous looking move.
He was joined by Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe), yesterday's TT runner-up Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and Colombian national champion Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo).
However, they gained no more than 10-15 seconds and on the descent of the last climb, just inside the 15km to go marker, they were reabsorbed, with Astana then proving very active off the front of what remained of the peloton.
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With just over 10km remaining it was Astana's 25-year-old Spanish rider Alex Aranburu who picked the perfect time to attack; surging forward as the others stalled.
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Once he got clear on his own he fully committed and quickly had a gap of more than 30 seconds, having started the day 30 seconds down after his 9th place finish on yesterday's TT.
With a 10 second time bonus on the line for the stage winner it looked like Aranburu may take both the stage win and the race lead, though the final rise to the finish line saw his gap reduced to just five seconds.
However, that was more than enough to take a fantastic victory. His team mate Omar Fraile won the sprint for 2nd place from race leader Roglič; enough to retain yellow by five seconds over Aranburu.
Eddie Dunbar finished in 58th place in a group 1:42 down, just one place ahead of Carapaz. Their team mate Adam Yates was in the group with the yellow jersey and was the only Ineos Grenadiers rider to finish ahead of Dunbar on what was a poor enough day for the team.
Giro champion Tao Geoghegan Hart lost a massive nine minutes while another of the fancied Ineos Grenadiers riders, Andrey Amador, was almost 15 minutes down. Tomorrow's stage is 168km from Amurrio to Ermualde with a climb to finish.
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