In its April slot on the calendar — starting the day after the Tour of Flanders and finishing a day before Paris-Roubaix — the Itzulia Basque Country provides daily WorldTour racing for fans to enjoy between the cobbled Monuments. The six-day race also offers the non-Classics riders of the peloton an opportunity to win a prestigious stage race in one of cycling’s most devout heartlands, the Basque country.
Basque cycling fans are known to be some of the most passionate in the sport, flocking to the roadsides dressed in the orange colour associated with the region and brandishing the distinctive red, white and green Ikurriña flag. Their home race dates back to 1924, and has its own unique local identity in the WorldTour calendar with its densely packed steep climbs often masked in the characteristically Basque wet mist and rain.
Last year’s race will be remembered most due to a horrific crash on the fourth stage, which resulted in three favourites Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel all dropping out, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel in particular suffering from injuries that significantly impacted the rest of their seasons.
This year’s race promises to be an open affair with none of the Big Four (the aforementioned three favourites and Tadej Pogačar) present on the start line. Last year’s winner, Ayuso, who last week finished second at the Volta a Catalunya, will also not be starting the race in Vitoria-Gasteiz on Monday. However, former winners Daniel Martínez (2022) and Ion Izagirre (2019) will be battling it out over the Basque climbs with the other contenders.
Itzulia Basque Country 2025 Route
The 2025 route mixes tradition with innovation, where the classic inescapable hills and rolling roads of the landscape favour the climbers, but a time trial and a lack of summit finish mean that a puncheur could challenge for victory.
As was the case last year, Itzulia Basque Country starts with a time trial, which is a 16.5km flat test from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Baskonia-Alavés. From here onwards, there are almost no flat roads, as the peloton faces five back-to-back days of hilly parcours. Stage two from Pamplona to Lodosa is the easiest of the five but at 196km with several lumps on the way it is by no means a walk in the park.
Stages three, four, five and six are all hilly stages, with repeated climbs from start to finish. Stage three from Zarautz to Beasain, contains seven categorised climbs with the Lazkaomendi (1.3km at 11.2%) coming with 8km to go.
The first category one climb comes in stage four, where after 155km, the peloton has to face the Izua, which is 4.2km at 9.3% and tops out before an 11km descent into the finish at Markina-Xemein. Although it is on a main road, the descent could be wet and like most of the stages at the Itzulia Basque Country, being able to descend as well as climb is vitally important.
Stage five from Urduña to Gernika-Lumo only officially has four categorised climbs but there are four climbs in the last 50km, including the 4.9km 6.4% climb to Zalobante, which are not part of the race’s categorised climbs. The ramp to Zalobante averages 9.4% for its first 2.2km and tops out with 14km to go, in which there is a descent and a 700m 6.4% kicker before the downhill finish.
The final stage is a 153.4km test starting and finishing in Eibar, and taking in seven categorised climbs, which will have to be navigated by whoever is to take the traditional txapela beret that's awarded to the overall winner.
Contenders
João Almeida
Portuguese rider, João Almeida lines up at Itzulia for the first time in his career as he builds up to a Tour de France and Vuelta a España double later in the year. In a star-studded UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad packed full of GC talent like Tadej Pogačar, Adam Yates, and Juan Ayuso, making the most of the opportunity of leadership at a race is vitally important for Almeida’s continued prevalence within the team. He has so far done well, if not amazingly, with his leadership chances so far this year, with second overall at the Volta a la Valenciana and Volta ao Algarve in February. However, a slightly underwhelming sixth place in March’s Paris-Nice, while teammates Pogačar lit up the Classics and Ayuso won Tirreno-Adriatico, will mean Almeida will be keen to reestablish his credentials as one of UAE’s go-to GC men. He will benefit from the individual time trial but his chances of overall victory are perhaps undermined by the lack of summit finishes, alongside the number of difficult Basque descents, which is not one of his strengths.
João Almeida at the Volta ao Algarve 2025 (Photo: James Startt)
Enric Mas
Another potential GC winner who could suffer due to the twisting and possibly wet downhills is Enric Mas (Movistar Team), who like Almeida has a number of overall top five results in Grand Tours on his palmarès but apart from the Tour of Guangxi, Mas has never won the GC at a WordTour stage race. Despite this, the man from Majorca is a remarkably consistent performer, with four overall podiums at the Vuelta to his name, and is working his way into his usual metronomic results with a third place at the recent Volta a Catalunya. Mas is a rider built in the traditional mould of GC contenders and performs well day-in-day-out at gruelling stage races, which means if he can cope well with the time trial and punchy stages, could be well placed while others begin to tire around him.
Enric Mas at the Vuelta a España 2024 (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Pello Bilbao
One man who thrives in challenging descents is Pello Bilbao of Bahrain-Victorious. Could this be the Basque rider’s year to win his home race? Apart from the cancelled Covid-19 edition in 2020, Bibao has started every Itzulia since 2016 but is yet to finish on the podium. Born in Guernica, known for the tragedy of its bombing by the Nazi's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War, Bilbao has all the attributes to thrive at his home race and with none of the Big Four on the start line, along with the time trial (a discipline Bilbao quietly thrives at), the number of technical descents and the guaranteed home support, 2025 offers one of the best chances for victory in his career. He can rely on the support from his teammate Santiago Buitrago, who had a successful start to the season with an overall win at the Volta a la Valenciana ahead of Almeida and Bilbao.
Pello Bilbao at the Tour de France 2023 (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Mattias Skjelmose
The Lidl-Trek rider, Mattias Skjelmose, has a point to prove at Itzulia, after losing the overall GC lead on the very last stage in 2024. The Dane will benefit from the first day’s time trial and will expect to put time into riders like Mas. He is becoming a consistent top performer at one week stage races, having notched up a number of overall podium results and will be hoping to continue this as he builds towards the Tour in the summer. With some strong rides so far this season, finishing inside the top ten at the Faun Drôme and Faun-Ardèche Classics, as well as at four stages of Paris-Nice, the 24-year-old was enjoying a solid start to the year but, then he was concussed after a crash on the final stage in Paris-Nice and was forced to abandon. It is not known how he has responded since that crash but if nothing else Itzulia will act as a welcome return to racing for the talented Dane.
Mattias Skjelmose at the Tour de Suisse 2023 (Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Florian Lipowitz
Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Florian Lipowitz finished second behind Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) at Paris-Nice and is quietly establishing himself as a savvy stage racer with a strong time trial and climbing ability to match it. The German is developing under the tutelage of an improving Red Bull team, which has every right to call themselves the next best GC team behind UAE and Visma. The 24-year-old can rely on the support from one of the strongest squads in the race, particularly through the likes of Maxim Van Gils and previous Itzulia winner Daniel Martínez, whose form is unknown as he has not raced yet this year.
Florian Lipowitz at the Vuelta a España 2024 (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Other contenders
The openness of the race lends itself to multiple GC contenders and many riders will believe they have a chance to nab a prestigious WorldTour stage victory. If Bilbao were to struggle, the aforementioned Santiago Buitrago is more than capable of getting a top result for Bahrain-Victorious. Likewise, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Maxim Van Gils and Daniel Martínez, will be hoping to be ready to perform if their respective leaders had any issues.
Daniel Martínez at the Giro d'Italia 2024 (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Other GC contenders like Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL), Ben Tulett and Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana Team) will likely be in contention for a top ten — if not better — in a race which could throw up some surprises.
Outside of the GC battle, Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) will fancy his chances to grab a stage win to go with the one he won in 2024. Likewise, watch out for Lidl-Trek pair Thibau Nys and Quinn Simmons, who both thrive in the challenging parcours that Itzulia offers. They will likely be battling local rider Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) who is a daredevil descender and has the punch to finish off a stage from a group finish.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and former GC winner Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) are both more than capable of going for stage wins or an overall top result, and are likely to feature in one way or another in the race.
Prediction
Due to the time trial, knowledge of the local roads, his ability to climb with the best and descend better than anyone, we believe Pello Bilbao has the best chance of winning his home race.
