Itzulia Basque Country 2026 stage 4 preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Breakaway or GC day?

From the 6th to the 11th of April, the peloton will travel to the Basque Country, one of cycling's holy regions, for Itzulia Basque Country. The six-day stage-race is always marked by the steep climbs, the narrow roads, unstable weather and passionate fans, which are never missing in one of the spring's highlights. We preview stage 4, which is estimated to start and finish at 12:20 and 16:30CET.

The race was first held back in 1924 where Francis Pélissier took the first win. In 1935 Gino Bartali won an isolated edition and then for over 30 years the Itzulia was absent from the calendar. It wasn't until 1969 where there was a rebirth, and one with big shockwaves as none other than Jacques Anquetil won this edition.

Over the years many legends such as Luis Ocaña, Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Tony Rominger, Alex Zulle and Laurent Jalabert have all won the Basque race. The amount of Spanish wins in this century hasn't dminished even in the previous years, with the following being victorious: Aitor Osa, Iban Mayo, José Ángel Gómez Marchante, Juan José Cobo, Alberto Contador (four times), Sámuel Sanchez, Joaquím Rodríguez, Alejandro Valverde, Ion Izagirre and most recently in 2024 Juan Ayuso.

We've also had Nairo Quintana take a breakthrough win in 2013 early in his career, Primoz Roglic (2018 and 2021), Daniel Martínez, in 2023 Jonas Vingegaard and in 2025 João Almeida who dominated the race throughout its mountain stages.

A roller-coaster day on the fourth stage of Itzulia, it sees the riders take on seven categorized climbs and also a hilltop finish. Just over 3000 meters of climbing, although inbetween climbs the roads are flatter than the typical Itzulia stage.

They part part of the stage will begin in the last three climbs, as right before there is a long flat section where the peloton can comfortably cut gaps. But from the moment the ascent to the Alto de El Vivero begins, this changes. The climb is 4.3 kilometers long at 8.3% and ends with 29 kilometers to go.

Following the descent there is the approach to the next one, with a bonus sprint coming with 13 to go. The penultimate climb begins immediately after and it is 3.2 kilometers at 8%. This is a climb that can make serious differences, as the riders will have to go all-out from the base, with the first half of the climb averaging 10%.

This ascent ends with 9 kilometers to go and the descent back to Galdakao is technical. The climbing only ends at the finish line however, with the final kilometers averaging 7%, making gaps still possible, despite all the difficulties that have come beforehand.

*** Paul Seixas

** Mattias Skjelmose, Florian Lipowitz, Kévin Vauquelin

* Ben Healy, Quinn Simmons, Primoz Roglic, Tobias Johannessen, Marc Soler, Christian Scaroni, Ben Tulett, Ion Izagirre, Harold Tejada, Alex Baudin, Javier Romo

Pick: Paul Seixas

How: Late attack.