Team Bahrain Victorious (Spain) - Press Release: Pello Bilbao celebrated his first win of the season after sprinting to victory on his home roads on stage 3 of the Itzulia Basque Country (Llodio-Amurrio, 181.7km).

The third day at the 6-day Basque stage race was hilly, featuring a typical Itzulia course with narrow and steep short climbs. The GC team controlled the race, and after the day’s breakaway was brought back, the strongest riders made their move to take the lead. Among them was Pello Bilbao, who also tried to shake the stage, but he couldn’t manage to go solo, especially against the strong duo formed by the World Champion Alaphilippe and his teammate Remco Evenepoel. The reduced group were together to the finish to fight for the win. In a sprint finish, Pello Bilbao beat Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe).

With this success, Bilbao moves up to 5th place overall, 19” behind the leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).