After Noah Hobbs' win on Stage 1 and his own victory on Stage 2, Markel and his teammates went on the offense again to defend the yellow jersey. They came oh so close to making it a clean sweep of stage wins, with Markel finishing second in the sprint at the end of Stage 3. Markel's first general classification win was the best prize they could win, though. The Basque beamed as he pulled on the yellow jersey on the final podium in Lélex.

"We knew today was going to be a very hard day for us," Markel said after the finish. "We knew it would be a hard, super-intensive stage."

Jardi van der Lee, Noah Streif, Noah Hobbs, and Alexander Cepeda rose to the challenge, keeping Markel out of the wind at the front of the peloton on a brutal race course through the Jura mountains. On the Col du Menthières, the final and hardest climb in the stage, Alexander accelerated with Markel on his wheel, putting all of his GC rivals on the limit. Soon, there were only nine riders left at the front. Markel and Alexander worked together to keep the pace so high that none of the other rivals in the move dared attack, hurtling down the descent and pushing all the way up the long drag to the final kilometer, where Alexander launched a bid for the stage win. His brave move was brought back right before the line. Markel dashed to second in the sprint with more than enough of an advantage to secure the GC.

He was thankful for his teammates' efforts from the start to the end of the race.

"We could control everything, and I'm happy to take the GC," Markel said.

The 21-year-old’s sights are now set on the Vuelta a Burgos and a busy rest of the season.

"I'm working every day, to perform better and better," he said. "We'll see how the future develops."

After this yellow jersey win, Markel and his teammates are carrying momentum into our late-summer campaign. Congratulations, guys!