Itzulia Basque Country 2026, April 6-11

[Unchained]

Roglic has 'not studied the parcours' and will be taking things 'day by day'.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2040848851385344323

Del Toro's teammates have mostly been average for the past month, he will have to rely on Soler here, Ayuso also a question mark, I think Sexais has the most cohesive looking unit here.

Del Toro will be overwhelmed.. Riders are ready to counter every move he makes, Del Toro will not exit the TT with anything of significance, many guys are as good or better at ITT.
Soler expected to do which UAE,? If Del Toro thinks he has plough horses to stay on the front and apply constant pressure? Good luck with that, and UAE has so many good guys either on the injured list or just coming off of it, nowhere near at 100%.
Bora looked great at Flanders, Visma also with strong guys, Decathlon, wait and see..If Seixas stays predictable he can do lots of his own work, he has the horsepower to chase anyone at the race. Trek is a racing grab bag, you have no idea what you are going to get. If Conti style continues like Italian and Spanish regular racing, they go off in front and normally get caught by bigger teams, wouldn't be amazed if a no name wins a race here or there when big teams miscalculate about the ability to bring everything back.. When you have a weapon like Pogacar, you can make mistakes that he can fix, Del Toro is nowhere close to Pogacar. Del Toro should race with nothing but counter attacking and not try to control everything.

 

[jonan92]

Finally the weather will be nice, sunny with some heat. The low that was going to affect the race moves to the west and bring south winds

 

[Gigs_98]

This statement was literally made on the first Sunday of Holy Week.

This satement is 100% correct. So was @Ilmaestro99's

 

[saunaking]

I'm all for Basque Country, but the abject silliness on this forum is getting out of hand.

reflection of the road

 

[SHAD0W93]

Ayuso vs Roglic for stage 1

 

[Potomac]

@Armchair Cyclist or any other mod, can we sticky this thread and un sticky all the complete Flanders races?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

This could be the stage race of the season. Great parcours and great field with no one big favorite. Close call between Ayuso, Del Toro and Seixas, although I do think that Del Toro will have a hard time winning this, actually. I think that Seixas will take it just ahead of Ayuso.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

ITT startorder from PCS: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/itzulia-basque-country/2026/stage-1/live/startorder

First rider 14:30 local (Zimmerman)
Last rider 17:23 (Landa)

The riders will be hit with a 2.4km, 7% climb straight out of the gate which seems like a rude wake up call on a Monday.

 

[TheKidsCallMeBoss]

Is the weather forecast tricky? Some of the favourites start very early, while others start right at the end.

In 2021, when the ITT was the same as today’s stage, Roglic also started among the first riders and won.

 

[KZD]

This race has everything to become one of the best stage races of the season with no super rider at the start line and with all stages having the potential of becoming GC stages. Just wished that today's TT had a bit more of flat but otherwise its nearly the perfect route for an Itzulia.

Del Toro is the man to beat given that he won UAE and Tirreno but Seixas, Ayuso and the Red Bull duo are very strong opponents and watch out for Ion Izaguirre who won GP Indurain very convincingly.

Prediction for today:
- Ayuso
- Seixas
- Roglic

Prediction for GC:
- Seixas
- Del Toro
- Ayuso

 

[memyselfandI]

What has Healy done to deserve the five stars?

Just my wild guess..Did his best season last year and is 25yrs. Good tt'er so shouldn't give any slack today if all lines up well. Can go on his own if other favourites look each other one good moment too long.

But maybe he's looking still more for monument like Liege where he has less than zero chance, dunno..

 

[search]

28°C in Bilbao today? What happened to the usual Basque weather...

But no, to me it doesn't really look like an early start is likely to be an advantage. Conditions are forecast to remain fairly similar throughout the afternoon

Hourly weather forecast for Bilbao

Today's weather forecast for Bilbao by the hour.

www.yr.no

 

[Red Rick]

Looks like wind will be pretty consistent, but turn very slightly from S to SE.

Roglic is the only contender that will start early. Seixas starts in the middle somewhere, the rest all starts late.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Looks like wind will be pretty consistent, but turn very slightly from S to SE.

Roglic is the only contender that will start early. Seixas starts in the middle somewhere, the rest all starts late.

There is a little block with Seixas that could be interesting to follow if its on the telly:

55	116	15:24:00	TIBERI Antonio	Bahrain - Victorious
56	107	15:25:00	GAFFURI Mattia	Team Picnic PostNL
57	97	15:26:00	ROMO Javier	Movistar Team
58	84	15:27:00	IRIBAR Unai	Equipo Kern Pharma
59	72	15:28:00	QUARTUCCI Lorenzo	Burgos Burpellet BH
60	61	15:29:00	SEIXAS Paul	Decathlon CMA CGM Team
61	53	15:30:00	LIPOWITZ Florian	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
62	46	15:31:00	SKJELMOSE Mattias	Lidl - Trek

 

[canina82]

Very interesting profile. I hope for carnage on stage 2 and I think Seixas will try to rip the peloton.
Del Toro is my number one favorite, for those who don't know, he went to altitude after San Remo.

 

[jonan92]

28°C in Bilbao today? What happened to the usual Basque weather...

But no, to me it doesn't really look like an early start is likely to be an advantage. Conditions are forecast to remain fairly similar throughout the afternoon

Hourly weather forecast for Bilbao

Today's weather forecast for Bilbao by the hour.

www.yr.no

That's what happens in the Basque Country with south wind, foehn effect

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Can Roglič party like it's 2021, or will a lack of stomp be unmasked for everyone to see?

These recaps from five years ago feel like half an in memoriam/where are they now segment, but some of them are still active nowadays.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueaIoTRr1c4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-LqNqqpiV4

 

[Old-school]

Interesting to see the recovery capacity of PS after 5 days of race. In Algarve he seemed to be a little dull in the last mountain stage.

 

[Red Rick]

I'll argue that the pressure is fully on Seixas. If he wants to be the heir apparent, he needs to beat all the pretenders here.

 

[Rob5091]

We'll miss Roglic doing the TT on the telly it seems. The Seixas, Lipo, Ayuso contest during the week will be interesting.

 

[Mayomaniac]

We'll miss Roglic doing the TT on the telly it seems. The Seixas, Lipo, Ayuso contest during the week will be interesting.

Too many short, steep climbs for the Lipopotamus. Sexy Paul ftw!