MADRID, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Axel Laurance of INEOS Grenadiers won an exciting third stage of the Tour of Basque Country cycle race on Wednesday after coming out on top in a head-to-head sprint against Igor Arrieta of UAE Team Emirates.

Laurance, who suffered a fall on Tuesday, kept his composure over the final 500 meters of the stage, which started and finished in Basauri near Bilbao, to get the better of Arrieta on a day that favored a breakaway win.

Nineteen-year-old Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA-CGM retained his overall lead of one minute and 59 seconds over Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, with Roglic's teammate Florian Lipowitz a further nine seconds behind. ■