Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma) may have finished just seconds ahead of their nearest challengers at the Tour of the Basque Country today, though those time gaps do not tell the story of the finale.
Up the very hard steep climb to the finish at the end of stage 3 today - some 167.7km from Amurrio to Ermualde - the Slovenian rivals dangled off the front, surging and then easing back, in a two-man tactical battle.
Behind them, even riders like the in form Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) were forced to measure their efforts to stay in touch with the leading duo, who pressed hard at will while the best of the rest clawed their way back up several times.
Even Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), who looked so strong on the early slopes of the climb, was simply swept aside when Pogačar took it up and Roglič, the race leader, was the only man in the field able to match him.
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In the end, while a small group made contact with Pogačar and Roglič just before the finish, the Slovenians sprinted forward inside the last few hundred metres with Pogačar taking the victory from Roglič.
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Just five seconds back came three more big names; Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in 3rd place followed by Yates and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) was 6th, eight seconds down on winner Pogačar.
And after that group of four, who were the only ones able to get back on terms with Pogačar and Roglič came best of the rest James Knox (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in 7th at 16 seconds.
The only Irish rider in the race, Eddie Dunbar of Ineos Grenadiers, was back in 41st today, in a small group 2:38 down on a day when the first to last riders were covered by almost 22 minutes.
The stage result sees Roglič retain his race lead but with Pogačar now up to 2nd and closing the gap to his rival by four seconds, due to time bonuses, and now trails the overall leader by 20 seconds with three stages remaining.
The young US rider Brandon McNulty (UAE-Team Emirates), who was 2nd to Roglič on Monday's stage 1 TT has been climbing very well and he was in the group with Knox today, 16 seconds down, meaning he is in 3rd place overall at 30 seconds.
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