Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez did the double in the Tour of the Basque Country, winning in Arrate as he had done the day before in Zumarraga. In this selective stage which finished with a 7km climb, Thibaut Pinot took tenth place after he had looked like one of the strongest riders and he moved up in the GC. Another difficult stage remains before the final time trial.

"The day had started badly because we quickly lost Kevin Reza who had bad legs and was distanced after 30 kilometers. For withdrawals in four days are a lot," sports director Yvon Madiot said.

At the front,  German Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) and American Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cannondale) emerged from a breakaway of four riders formed 90 kilometers from the finish and they kept the peloton busy before they had to surrender at the bottom of the final climb.

The Katusha team sent Zakarin on the attack and he was later joined by Colombian Henao (Team Sky), the yellow jersey. Pinot, attacking 3 kilometers from the finish, rejoined the duo together with the main group but both Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step) and Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R-La Mondiale) had been dropped. Hence, Pinot moved into 11th.

"With the time trial on the last day, we can be confident that our captain will finish in the top 10 but we must be careful. Friday's stage is again difficult with seven climbs before the finish at the top of the Aia wall. However, I can see that Thibaut is getting better," Madiot said.