PREVIEW | Itzulia Basque Country 2025 - All-out war expected with no outright favourite for GC win
Cycling
From the 7th to the 12th of April, the peloton will take on Itzulia Basque Country; a race that is well known for it's course designed for climbers and puncheurs in a region full of cycling history. We preview the race ahead.
The race starts off with a 16-kilometer time-trial in Vitoria-Gasteiz, one that is not flat and as usual will already create some early differences between the overall classification contenders.
Stage 2 is the one day where the sprinters can happily say that they will have a clear opportunity to win. Don't be mistaken, it's not a traditional flat day, but the climbs won't be too dramatic and a bunch sprint seems relatively inevitable going into Lodosa after 197 kilometers.
The third day of the race will be the introduction to what Itzulia offers the most. The stage between Zarautz and Beasain will feature plenty ascents and the ones that come later in the day are extremely steep. Not necessarily a day just for the climbers, plenty riders can have a chance in such an explosive finale.
Stage 4 is a harder challenge with no doubt, the final climb before the downhill finish into Markina-Xemein is 3.5 kilometers long at almost 10% and this is a climb that without a doubt the climbers can use to make the difference.
Stage 5 is a tricky day to predict, a hilly day but the climbs aren't truly brutal. The overall classification can absolutely implode if someone fully devotes to attacking the race, however if this isn't the case we may have a tactical finale or even reduced bunch sprint - if not a brekaway - to decide the outcome of the day.
The queen stage in the Basque Country is always a day to fear unless you're an extremely talented climber. 3600 meters of climbing in 154 starting and finishing in the town of Eibar, with some very difficult climbs spread all throughout the day. It's one purely for the climbers, where the key attacks can come on several moments of the day.
The Favourites
UAE - UAE won't start with a set leader, as is usual, but with a strong time-trial João Almeida could get himself in such position. Brandon McNulty, Marc Soler and Isaac del Toro could all potentially have freedom here, but in stages like this having multiple cards for the GC can actually be very good. UAE come in dangerous, and all four can handle both explosive and long climbs.
BORA - BORA's team is crazy strong and that brings a big question on who will work for who. Roger Adrià, Finn Fisher-Black and Maxim van Gils (training for the Ardennes) at their best form are all prime stage hunters for such hilly terrain; Daniel Martínez starts his season now only but is a former winner here (and second at the Giro last year); Aleksandr Vlasov is also a rather ideal rider for such climbs and lastly Florian Lipowitz just finished second at Paris-Nice where he looked incredilbly consistent. BORA can do quite good with such a team, but some egos will have to be managed.
Bahrain - Santiago Buitrago has been very strong this year, and specially when taking into consideration explosive terrain like this and the steep climbs. The Colombian will be a prime victory contender for Bahrain here whilst home rider Pello Bilbao is the perfect stage hunter for such terrain - besides a GC outsider himself.
Enric Mas - With Pablo Castrillo backing him up, Movistar has got cards to play close to home and they have a lineup capable of fighting for victory here. Enric Mas has just finished on the podium of the Volta a Catalunya together with Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas, and signs of good form are aplenty. Here perhaps the stages aren't as difficult as he'd hope for, with no summit finishes, but the queen stage around Eibar could see his pure climber skills make a true difference.
Mattias Skjelmose - The Dane started his season only in March, but started off strong. At Paris-Nice however, Skjelmose was riding into the final podium but crashed on the penultimate stage... Whether he's recovered his top form or not is a big question, but if he is on his best legs this week can be very fruitful for the Lidl-Trek leader - who's got Thibau Nys as a very interesting stage hunter.
We've got a few puncheurs such as Ben Healy, Max Schachmann, Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe who can be interesting, absolutely favourites for a few stages but it'll above all be interesting to see how they do in the tougher stages.
Ion Izagirre, Ilan van Wilder, Sepp Kuss, Wilco Kelderman, Oscar Onley, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Clément Champoussin, Eddie Dunbar and Clément Berthet are all also legitimate contenders for the overall classification and must be taken into consideration.
Prediction Itzulia Basque Country 2025 overall classification:
*** Florian Lipowitz, Santiago Buitrago, Enric Mas
** João Almeida, Pello Bilbao, Mattias Skjelmose
* Brandon McNulty, Marc Soler, Isaac del Toro, Aleksandr Vlasov, Maxim van Gils, Daniel Martínez, Pablo Castrillo, Clément Berthet, Eddie Dunbar, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Ben Healy, Oscar Onley, Sepp Kuss, Wilco Kelderman, Ion Izagirre, Ilan van Wilder, Max Schachmann
Pick: Santiago Buitrago
Original: Rúben Silva
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🔝2025EKO ITZULIA BASQUE COUNTRYREN KARTEL OFIZIALA 🔝
— Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia) March 25, 2025
Gaur aurkeztu dugu 2025eko Itzulia Basque Countryren kartel ofiziala.
Itzuliaren 64. edizioko kartelaren egilea David de las Heras da, @david_delasheras
🔥 CARTEL OFICIAL DE LA ITZULIA BASQUE COUNTRY 2025 🔥
Hoy hemos… pic.twitter.com/gBcoLRkjzo
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- That uber bet was huge more than made up for the losses by 10x. Still winning.
Front24209-04-2025 - Yawn! There were no ther top class sprinters there so he better have won! Let me know when he beats Jasper or Merlier or Milan!frieders309-04-2025
- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025