2026 Itzulia Women, May 15-17

[Libertine Seguros]

Stiasny and Bego are out of the race. They have just passed the top of Jaizkibel, where I assume Kastelijn has scored some points.

She won the summit and is now mathematically guaranteed to win the jersey so long as she finishes.

Movistar's junior scouting for the women seems to be going well, in addition to getting the two young Britons and Paula Ostiz, another of their charges, young Galician Alejandra Neira, just won the Côte de la Croix-Neuve MTF in the Tour du Gévaudan, ahead of Thaïs Poirier and Giorgia Pellizotti.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

SDW thought they had nailed the intermediate sprint at the first crossing of the finish line, but Bredewold lost a second to Lippert.

Also on the topics of both junior and Basque races, it's a shame that the Bizkaikoloreak has been cancelled this year. I really hope it will continue in the future.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Usoa did another fine sprint to finish third in the last intermediate sprint, while Bredewold took back that one second on Lippert. So her lead is now 21 seconds to Kastelijn, 22 to Markus, 25 to Dickson, 34 to Niedermaier and 36 to Lippert.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Berthet goes hard from the bottom, but still 15-20 riders left. Niedermaier takes over, but Davide Arzeni also asked her to become full gas Toni earlier.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, on the plus side I think Bredewold finally winning the GC after a couple of near misses might be a Zabel-wins-Amstel-Gold moment for the organisers, because she's not really the sort of rider that they typically look to target here, but she's very durable on these lower gradient and shorter slopes and she earned it on stage 1 even if the others didn't exactly ride the smartest race to get rid of her after she made it back across.

Edit: she's starting to yo-yo. Probably not enough of a gap that she can't make it back on the descent for the time being, but she's going into the pain zone for sure and there's still some way left of the climb.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yea, on the plus side I think Bredewold finally winning the GC after a couple of near misses might be a Zabel-wins-Amstel-Gold moment for the organisers, because she's not really the sort of rider that they typically look to target here, but she's very durable on these lower gradient and shorter slopes and she earned it on stage 1 even if the others didn't exactly ride the smartest race to get rid of her after she made it back across.

The less than stellar weather probably also suits her more than some of smaller riders.

The sprinting has killed Lippert, and Bredewold is also struggling a little bit maybe, but no real gap yet.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Group now split in 3, Bredewold in the back group, Kastelijn and Niedermaier in the front one, and a second group in the middle with Ostolaza and Markus in it.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

There's a gap now, but they are getting closer to the flatter part.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lol, other teams riding for SD Worx, in accordance with the prophecy.

The good news for Niedermaier is that with Markus and Bredewold both dropped, FDJ will potentially start to collaborate for Dickson.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's surprising that no other SDW riders made it, but Bauernfeind is a good ally right now.

Surely FDJ should try something with their three riders.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's surprising that no other SDW riders made it, but Bauernfeind is a good ally right now.

Surely FDJ should try something with their three riders.

Bauernfeind is dropping Bredewold a bit and FDJ are trying to get away, around 30" gap at the summit is not ideal for Mischa. It's not over yet, but the pace is likely to be high up front if FDJ keep pushing it. Mischa is a very strong descender though.

...and the constant attacks are taking impetus out of the front group which is helpful for Mischa - even group 2 syndrome doesn't impact her as they need to beat her by a few seconds plus bonuses, it's not that she needs to make it into the group.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Bauernfeind is dropping Bredewold a bit and FDJ are trying to get away, around 30" gap at the summit is not ideal for Mischa. It's not over yet, but the pace is likely to be high up front if FDJ keep pushing it. Mischa is a very strong descender though.

The seconds on the line could become crucial.

Arens seems to be a student at the Sarah Gigante School of Descending, but she will likely improve in the future.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

FFS Lidl-Trek, race-killers over an outside hope of defending 3rd place.

 

[yaco]

FDJ has to ride hard to keep Bredewold behind. Take your chances in the finish.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

FDJ should keep attacking for the stage win and a possible chance of the GC.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

FDJ has to ride hard to keep Bredewold behind. Take your chances in the finish.

FDJ and Lidl-Trek are united in their ultimate goal to preserve the greatest truism in cycling: that somebody will always work on SD Worx' behalf.

 

[ice&fire]

FFS Lidl-Trek, race-killers over an outside hope of defending 3rd place.

Looks like Misha is killing it in the descent

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Looks like Misha is killing it in the descent

She did, it was always going to be where she had the best chance because she is overall a better descender than anybody up front, but she was getting help on the flat and false flat from Bauernfeind consistently. And FDJ up front seemed to never commit to either Dickson's GC position or put any genuine impetus into any single move for the stage, killing all of the cooperation in the group.

Just a very disappointing outcome where Niedermaier successfully isolated and drop the only SD Worx rider left, and then the teams best placed to profit from that work did everything in their power to make sure they didn't capitalise.

And then FDJ didn't even win the sprint at the end to put the cherry on top. Absolutely pants-on-head racing.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

One rider did win two stages, but not the one we expected. Also what a ride by Bauernfeind.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's very hard to argue with the work that Bredewold had to put in to score the win, but the fact that the Itzulia GC is being settled by sprint bonuses is a damning indictment. It's like Mads Pedersen winning the men's race - the guy can get over a decent amount of obstacles and he's quite demonstrably a world class cyclist, but he's really not the type of rider you expect to see winning at this race. Mischa has 29" of bonus seconds to Kastelijn's 6" and Dickson's 2" per PCS, and beats them by 21".

 

[yaco]

She did, it was always going to be where she had the best chance because she is overall a better descender than anybody up front, but she was getting help on the flat and false flat from Bauernfeind consistently. And FDJ up front seemed to never commit to either Dickson's GC position or put any genuine impetus into any single move for the stage, killing all of the cooperation in the group.

Just a very disappointing outcome where Niedermaier successfully isolated and drop the only SD Worx rider left, and then the teams best placed to profit from that work did everything in their power to make sure they didn't capitalise.

And then FDJ didn't even win the sprint at the end to put the cherry on top. Absolutely pants-on-head racing.

This was a major failure. There is no way a group of six riders with a 30 second gap with a 10kms descent should lose time, especially against a solo rider.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hilariously, not only did FDJ fail to win the stage from their numerical advantage AND lose time, but Lidl-Trek, who did such a sterling job to domestique for Bredewold in their defence of the podium, failed in their bid to defend Markus' position, with her dropping to 4th.

So both teams failed to meet the objectives of their tactics, and only succeeded in handing the race to Bredewold on a silver platter.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's very hard to argue with the work that Bredewold had to put in to score the win, but the fact that the Itzulia GC is being settled by sprint bonuses is a damning indictment. It's like Mads Pedersen winning the men's race - the guy can get over a decent amount of obstacles and he's quite demonstrably a world class cyclist, but he's really not the type of rider you expect to see winning at this race. Mischa has 29" of bonus seconds to Kastelijn's 6" and Dickson's 2" per PCS, and beats them by 21".

And Niedermaier didn't get any time bonuses and was probably the strongest climber in the race, but like last year she has to settle with a minor placing in GC.

The issue was that FDJ didn't have much reason to pull hard over the top when they were behind Kastelijn in GC. If Dickson had finished third on stage 1 it could possibly have been a different story, or if they had realised Dickson was their strongest rider before they asked her to pull on Santa Ageda.

 

[RedheadDane]

So, Bredewold surfed to the win?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So, Bredewold surfed to the win?

Yes.