As it happened: Victory goes to the breakaway and yellow jersey gains time on chaotic stage four of Itzulia Basque Country

Aranburu launches his sprint…

And now the others from that grup are catching them.

Scaroni has caught them and is sitting on their wheel.

Scaroni has gone clear of the other three in that group, and is catching the leading duo.

The second group is approaching the two leaders.

Behind, Seixas is motoring on with four riders dropped from the earlier break clinging to his wheel.

Paul Seixas is on a mission! He’s catching others from the day’s break, and is bearing down on the leaders, just 35 seconds behind.

Aranburu and Johannessenare working toegher and taking it in turns to pace. With a 25 second lead over the four chasers, they’re looking good.

Behind, Seixas is with Arrieta, and the two have a gap on the peloton.

They will now take on a short flat section, before the road kicks uphill for the final kilometre.

Johannessen is back onto Aranbru’s wheel as the downhill gradient eases.

As has Paul Seixas in the peloton! It seems we can count descending on the list of things he’s already elite at.

Fortunato, Scaroni, Martin and López are chasing the two leaders, but are 17 seconds behind.

Johannessen bridges up to Aranburu on the descent.

Aranburu leads, with Johannessen chasing him.

The pace is off in the peloton, and Seixas’ teammates are rejoining it.

There are about 15 riders left in the peloton.

As for Seixas, his move put others under pressure, but he didn’t get a gap.

And now Aranburu attacks them.

Scaroni, Fortunato and Martin have joined the three leaders.

Paul Seixas accelerates in the peloton!

Aranburu also joins them at the front of the race.

Johannessen has been caught, by López.

Back in the peloton, Primož Roglič is riding at the front.

Juan Pedro López attacks in the chase group.

These ramps are horrible They’re currently dragging themselves up one that reaches 17%.

Soler still has energy to burn, and leads the chase as they begin the climb.

Anders Halland Johannessen has started the climb now. This one’s a nasty one, averaging 8% for 3.2km.

Meanwhile the peloton is still in contention, at 1:23, but have some ground to make up on the final climb.

Johannessen is increashing his lead over the chasers, to 20 seconds.

Soler and Tuckwell have dropped back to the chase group, who are 15 seconds behind Johannessen, as they approach the final climb.

Soler and Tuckwell are looking at each other, allowing Johannessen to go clear!

Soler has been caught, and now Johannessen counters.

Crash for Bagioli, who’s up on his feet, but not bac riding yet.

Soler attacks the other two in the fornt group, and is trying to go clear.

They lead the chasers by 13 seconds.

Three riders have clipped off the front and now lead the race – Marc Soler, Luke Tuckwell and Anders Halland Johannessen.

There are about 40 riders left in the peloton, with a few dropped on the climb rejoining on the descent.

Seixas glues himself to his wheel as they go over the top of the climb, 1:17 after the leaders.

In the peloton, Lipowitz attacks again as they near the summit.

Soler continues to try to go clear, just 500m from the top of the climb.

Soler is one of those riders still in the front group, and tries an attack.

There are now about 14 riders leading the race, the others from the orignial break having been dropped.

Seixas’ teammate takes control of the peloton and calms things down again.

And it’s all kicking off in the peloton! Lipowitz and Seixas have both traded an attack each.

It’s all change at the front, and there are now abut eight riders leading the rest of the break.

Ben Healy has been dropped out of the breakaway. That’s a surprise, as he looked like one of the favourites for the stage win.

Back in the peloton, Decathlon have taken over control again, after being put under threat from Lipowitz earlier.

Scaroni, Johannessen and López have gone with Simmons.

Attack from Quinn Simmons in the breakaway.

Attack in the peloton from Florian Lipowitz! Decathlon were alert to the move though and have brought him back.

Visma-Lease a Bike lead the peloton. Are they trying to tee something up for Tulett?

Already riders are being dropped out the back of the break, on the lower slopes of the Vivero, including inevitably, McNulty.

Uno-X Moblity lead the break onto the Vivero again. They’re going a different way up this time, with much steeper gradients.

Visma and Decathlon are two of the teams up there in the peloton.

Changes in the peloton now as other teams fight for position ahead of the upcoming climb.

This is a fierce battle between the breakaway and the peloton, the former still being led by Uno-X Moblity, who appear to be riding for Tobias Halland Johannessen.

McNulty has been caught by the chasers, 36km from the finish. He’ll drop to the back of the group and have some well-deserved rest.

This flat section has been tough for McNulty, leaving him exposed compared with the protection the larger groups have. Only 30 seconds ahead now, it looks like he’ll be reabsorbed soon.

In theory the chase group should have the biggest advantage, with so many teams represented in it, but the Bahrain-led peloton is putting up a great fight.

This really does look like it’s swinging back in the advantage of the breakaway. They’re now just 1:40 behind the chasers, and 2:45 behind McNulty.

McNulty is labouring. His lead to the chasers is down to 1:30, and to the peloton just over three minutes.

Bahrain are presumably working for Bilbao, who could launch an attack on either the final climb or subsequent descent. But they also have Antionio Tiberi as an alternative option, albeit he’s lacking his best legs.

Bahrain Victorious are still pressing on at the front of the peloton, and that’s the group that’s currently fastest on the road. It’s a big ask for them to bring the race back together, but they’re making inroads, bringing the chase group back to 1:40 and McNulty to 3:20

McNulty is looking more tired now, churning a big gear as he rides the long flat section that will loop back round for a second ascent of Alto del Vivero.

The time from McNulty to the chasers is now being reported at 1:45. So his lead has come down, perhaps as a result of that bike change.

Bahrain Victorious were one of the few teams to miss the breakaway, and are trying to do something about that now as they take to the front of the peloton and up the pace.

A small snapshot of some of the 33 riders in the chase group.

This is some ride by Brandon McNulty. His lead is still growing, and is now up to 2:15. There’s still over 60km left to ride, but he’s committed to this move, and it’s starting to look like he has a chance.

Decathlon are leading the peloton, setting a steady pace. This certainly seems like it’s going to be one for the breakaway, given that almost every team is represented in it.

Here was McNulty earlier, when he first broke clear from the peloton.

And now the peloton cross the finish, taking it easy at about 3:30 down.

McNulty is climbing again, up Elorritxueta. At 7.9km it’s the longest of the day, but averages a relatively modest 4.4%.

Uno-X Mobility are the best represented team in the chase group with four riders, and one of their contingent is pulling the group. They’re crossing the finish line, about 1:40 after McNulty.

McNulty is riding across the finish line for the first time. The obvious thing to do when such a large, strong chase group formed behind him would have been to take it easy and wait to be caught by then, but instead the American has doubled down and is pushing on hard. Surely he can’t keep this up all the way to the finish?

The chase group still have 50 seconds to make up on McNulty, but are over a minute ahead of the peloton.

There are a lot of riders in this chase group, but none of the GC contenders appear to have sneaked into it.

The peloton is also now a lot further behind McNulty – a whole two minutes, in fact. It seems the American might have succeeded in snapping the elastic.

It seems that Seixas is safely in the peloton, while chase group has formed behind McNulty and ahead of the peloton.

McNulty leads the race as they reach the latest obstacle, the 2.4km, 6.7% Alto de Umbe climb.

There appears to be a split in the peloton – and Paul Seixas is caught the wrong side of it!

Incidentally, Bou took another mountain point at the top of the Jata climb, reaching the top behind Anders Halland Johannessen and Jardi Van Der Lee.

In the absence of their abandoned GC man Del Toro, UAE have been racing very aggressively, nearly winning the stage yesterday with Arrieta and trying to do so again today, with McNulty now and Pericas earlier.

The riders are over the Jata climb, and Brandon McNulty has gone on the attack, opening up a small lead.

Juan Ayuso, before pulling out of the race.

There was a split in the peloton on that descent, but the groups have come back together now.

It seems Juan Ayuso was involved in a crash.

Having been among the top favourites for the overall title, Ayuso has struggled throughout this race, first being well off the pace in the time trial, then being dropped on the climbs both on stage two and yesterday.

Despite looking like a strong group, those riders have all been caught on the climb.

Iker Mintegi has also attacked out of the peloton and is trying to join the leading sextet.

That trio have caught the leading trio, so we have 6 riders leading the race about 10 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Scaroni, Soler and Garcia Pierna have attacked and are chasing the leaders.

This climb is San Pelayo, the first of five that come in quick succession, and averages 4.4% for 5.7km.

The peloton has not eased up, and are brining the trio back again. They only have ten seconds as they approach the foot of the day’s second climb.

A big group of riders have gone clear of the peloton and are trying to chase the leading trio. There are about 20 riders in it.

Alaphilippe is the eye-catching name in this move. He might have lost the legs of his peak years, but remains a canny rider capable of winning big, as he proved at the GP de Québec last year. Could he make it a fourth French win in four days?

This is looking more promising. The trio are 20 seconds up on the peloton.

Kron is out on the attack again, going clear this time with Alaphilippe and Pericas.

That group has been caught – it was too big and unruly to be allowed up the road.

Pello Bilbao has managed to sneak into this group. He’s not too far down on GC, in 13th at 3:42.

A very large group of over 20 riders is trying to go clear. This is developing into a very hectic start!

It’s been announced that Roger Adrià has abanoned the race having started today. It’s unclear yet why.

He’s been brought, as has every other attempted attacker so far, and the race remains all together.

Andreas Kron has used these gradients to attack out the bunch and gain a small lead.

They’re on the Aretxabalgane now.

The riders are about to start climbing, up the 4.5km, 5.3% Aretxabalgane. That should provide a springboard for strong climbers and puncheurs to try and form a breakaway.

There have been attacks, but nothing has stuck so far.

The peloton is one rider short of those who finished yesterday – Emanuel Buchmann, whose tough start to the season continues.

The riders have gathered at Galdakao, and have just set off from the unofficial start.

Today’s is the kind of parcours that can make for very unpredictable racing – there’s lots of climbing, but not one standout climb in terms of difficulty. Of the seven climbs in total, six of them are rated category three, with just the final one rated category two.