Itzulia Basque Country 2026, April 6-11

[Hugh Januss]

Lipowitz makes Solor look like a tactical genius.

 

[Boehmand]

Skjelmose and Tullett drop out of the top 10.

I hope Lidl will soon drop the GC aspirations for Skjelmose.

He could have a stellar career as a one day racer and stage hunter, but he has too many crashes and too many off days to be a GC rider.

 

[memyselfandI]

Lipowitz makes Solor look like a tactical genius.

Feel sorry for Roglic having to struggle in Bora with one selfish clueless not made for stage racing, one moody youngster tt superstar not made for stage racing (luckily he's not here as an extra carriage). Sorta understand why he's planning long summer vacation.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Skjelmose is a worse version of Remco. He should focus on the classics and winning stages in stage races.

Ayuso will be LIDL´s leader in stage races. He won't win the Tour and can lose 10 minutes in a single day, but for one week races he's better when he's not plagued by his usual mishaps and illnesses.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Lipowitz makes Solor look like a tactical genius.

Soler has countless stage wins, even with Movistar tactical disaster team.
He could have even more with more tactical discipline, but Soler is one of the most underrated cyclists. He's won many stages that Lipowitz and others will never achieve with stronger legs.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage result:

1	Seixas Paul	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	50	50	10″	4:30:02
2	Lipowitz Florian	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	30	30	8″	,,
3	Romo Javier	Movistar Team	25	18	4″	1:03
4	Vauquelin Kévin	INEOS Grenadiers	20	13		1:11
5	Izagirre Ion	Cofidis	15	10		,,
6	Tejada Harold	XDS Astana Team	10	7		,,
7	Johannessen Tobias Halland	Uno-X Mobility	8	4		,,
8	Champoussin Clément	XDS Astana Team	6	3		,,
9	Bilbao Pello	Bahrain - Victorious	3	2		,,
10	Baudin Alex	EF Education - EasyPost	1	1		,,

Good work, Ion

 

[RedheadDane]

Seixas: "Sorry, Joan. I'm gonna need to KoM jersey back."

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Rider	Team	Pnt
1	2	▲1	Seixas Paul	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	32
2	1	▼1	Bou Joan	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	22

Come on, kid! You can't have all the jerseys!


Well... except... he clearly can.

 

[Brullnux]

I hope Lidl will soon drop the GC aspirations for Skjelmose.

He could have a stellar career as a one day racer and stage hunter, but he has too many crashes and too many off days to be a GC rider.

They do this with Ciccone too. I guess it partly comes from the riders wanting biggest prizes.

That said, Ciccone and Skjelmose have decent records in one week races. I can't say I find it that frustrating now compared to when they do it in GTs.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Stage result:

1	Seixas Paul	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	50	50	10″	4:30:02
2	Lipowitz Florian	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	30	30	8″	,,
3	Romo Javier	Movistar Team	25	18	4″	1:03
4	Vauquelin Kévin	INEOS Grenadiers	20	13		1:11
5	Izagirre Ion	Cofidis	15	10		,,
6	Tejada Harold	XDS Astana Team	10	7		,,
7	Johannessen Tobias Halland	Uno-X Mobility	8	4		,,
8	Champoussin Clément	XDS Astana Team	6	3		,,
9	Bilbao Pello	Bahrain - Victorious	3	2		,,
10	Baudin Alex	EF Education - EasyPost	1	1		,,

Good work, Ion

And good work Barhein. Without Bahrain, it seems that Decathlon was going to let the breakaway win the stage.

 

[Lequack]

Paul Seixas on Eurosport:
"At first I didn't expect Lipowitz to pull because he had Roglic behind but then he did which was great for me, I was able to recover. He was very strong today until the end."

 

[jonan92]

I hate teams that help the leader with the strongest team bring down the runaway just to protect their position in the top10

 

[YavorD]

Soler has countless stage wins, even with Movistar tactical disaster team.
He could have even more with more tactical discipline, but Soler is one of the most underrated cyclists. He's won many stages that Lipowitz and others will never achieve with stronger legs.

Only countless for those who can't count to 3.

He has "only" 5 wins in Movistar - one day race, Paris-Nice GC and 3 stages.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Only countless for those who can't count to 3.

He has "only" 5 wins in Movistar - one day race, Paris-Nice GC and 3 stages.

Do you think that's not enough for a domestique? He almost every year achieves a stage. We'll see how many Lipowitz gets as a leader.

 

[YavorD]

Do you think that's not enough for a domestique? We'll see how many Lipowitz gets as a leader.

Soler has never really been a domestique though.
He's been mostly a stage hunter and leaders with zero kick usually don't get a lot of wins

 

[HashRouge]

Seixas was obviously good again today, but he did look a little tired compared to the previous two stages he won. It makes me less confident that he is ready for the Tour, though I'd love to see it.

 

[Brullnux]

Seixas was obviously good again today, but he did look a little tired compared to the previous two stages he won. It makes me less confident that he is ready for the Tour, though I'd love to see it.

In his defence, he's gone balls to the wall in four out of five days so far. I'm not surprised he's slowing a bit

 

[Rackham]

Paul Seixas on Eurosport:
"At first I didn't expect Lipowitz to pull because he had Roglic behind but then he did which was great for me, I was able to recover. He was very strong today until the end."

Lipowitz obviously got what he was looking for here and that's jumping Rog in GC.

There must be some sort of associated bonus or career reason why he chose that outcome over a stage win.

 

[jonan92]

Tomorrow there will be rain and a big temperature drop, we will see if that changes anything after these hot days

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Soler has never really been a domestique though.
He's being mostly a stage hunter and leaders with zero kick usually don't get a lot of wins

Isn't Soler a domestique? That's why Movistar didn't let him win a stage because they made him stop to help Quintana.

That type of cyclist doesn't win as much. Simmons tried everything in the Tour last year and couldn't manage it. It's difficult.

 

[YavorD]

Isn't Soler a domestique? That's why Movistar didn't let him win a stage because they made him stop to help Quintana.

That type of cyclist doesn't win as much. Simmons tried everything in the Tour last year and couldn't manage it. It's difficult.

Okay, he wouldn't win this stage.
Plus, Soler himself said that he is free to ride for himself in races where Pogacar isn't riding.
These are most of the races in the calendar.

 

[Gratemans]

They do this with Ciccone too. I guess it partly comes from the riders wanting biggest prizes.

That said, Ciccone and Skjelmose have decent records in one week races. I can't say I find it that frustrating now compared to when they do it in GTs.

I thought it was already mutually decided Ciccone isn't going for GC's anymore in GT's?
But yeah, seems like Skjelmose is heading the same way.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

One rather large challenge left for Seixas, stage 6:

And I've been told that we finally see some rain. What would the Itzulia be without rain? The idea is intolerable.
Love the rude wake up call. Barely out of the neutral zone, bang: 4.6km@7.6%.
Think big , Ion, but without taking big risks. Lets go.
Edit: This should be broadcasted from km 0.

 

[Sciatic]

Lipowitz shouldn't have attacked uphill when he was with Roglic: as long as you're 2 , you have the advantage on the flat and you secure at least 2nd and 3rd in the stage and in the GC.

Lipowitz should't have pulled when Roglic was trying to get back, for two reasons:
1. let Seixas do the work so he gets tired
2. maybe Roglic could come back making it a 2 to 1-situation with a faster Roglic.

I thought that RB’s strategy was to throw 1-2 combination attacks at Seixas. Roglic tried to force the pace once but Seixas just accelerated. Then it was Lipo’s turn to attack, which is when he went away trying to put pressure on the GC leader. If they wanted to just win the stage then Lipo probably should slow if he couldn’t drop Seixas. But if they’re trying to win the overall (as they should) then they needed to put pressure on Seixas, which Lipo was trying to do.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Paul Seixas for winning the stage.

I was mostly happy with the approach RBH took but then it all fell apart on the ultimate climb. Likely they could have played it out differently but this is i guess the RBH way. Hence so be it. As for tomorrow, hopefully some good racing and then onto other goals on where Rogla hopefully again to raise the bar.

 

[Escarabajo]

Paul Seixas on Eurosport:
"At first I didn't expect Lipowitz to pull because he had Roglic behind but then he did which was great for me, I was able to recover. He was very strong today until the end."

A here some trying to defend him. LOL!!!!