PREVIEW | Itzulia Basque Country 2025 stage 2 - Will Caleb Ewan take his first World Tour win with INEOS?
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 stage 2.
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.
There will be 1600 meters of climbing over the day, not too much, and the final climb summits with 17 kilometers to go, being around 2 kilometers at 4%. No-one who wants to fight for the stage win will get dropped in such gradients, and a bunch sprint is then likely.
It won't be a simple one, with a roundabout coming with 2.3 kilometers to go which leads to a downhill section where the speeds will be very high. With 1.2 to go they reach the riverside and from here on out it's a flat finale, with a slight right-hander with around 300 meters to go.
The Weather
No meaningful wind on the day, and nice sunny temperatures.
The Favourites
Caleb Ewan - The truth is this race has perhaps the most modest sprinter startlist out of any World Tour stage-race I've ever seen. No top sprinters at the start and honestly, only three rider who I actuallyy consider to be sprinters at all. Althought five out of the six stages are either a time-trial or hilly, there was still one day of racing here where a sprint feels inevitable, and there is a World Tour win up for grabs. It's actually quite absurd to think that so few fast men are here, specially when looking at some smaller teams who rarely have any chance of winning a single World Tour event throughout the year, and could've actually brought a victory contender to a race such as this.
In the end we are left with Caleb Ewan as the main favourite, although he only started his season a couple weeks ago and does not have a proven leadout. The Pocket Rocket was close to retiring just a few months ago but INEOS provided him with a new opportunity, and honestly a good calendar selection as well. He hasn't won at the top category of cycling for over three years but he just might break the ice.
The other pure sprinters that will be here at the start are Jon Aberasturi of Euskaltel and Iuri Leitão of Caja Rural. Not top sprinters, but in this field they legitimately have a chance of taking a win and actually are amongst the top favourites, they have the pure speed. What follows is a group of puncheurs, or riders who aren't sprinters but can sprint and with a peloton like this they will certainly give it a shot.
Thibau Nys and Axel Zingle are actually very explosive and if they are in the right place at the right time, I wouldn't say that a victory is impossible - it's quite the opposite. Alex Aranburu, Ethan Hayter, Anders Foldager, Ide Schelling, Pau Miquel and BORA duo Roger Adrià and Maxim van Gils could also potentially finish amongst the first.
Prediction Itzulia Basque Country 2025 stage 2:
*** Caleb Ewan
** Axel Zingle, Iuri Leitão
* Thibau Nys, Alex Aranburu, Roger Adrià, Jon Aberasturi, Ethan Hayter, Anders Foldager, Ide Schelling, Pau Miquel
Pick: Caleb Ewan
How: Regular bunch sprint
Original: Rúben Silva
🔝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