Itzulia Women

Itzulia Women is a three-day WorldTour cycling stage race held each May in Spain's Basque region. Launched in 2022, it brings the women's peloton to the same steep, forested terrain that defines the longer men's edition.

Itzulia Women is a three-day Women’s WorldTour stage race in the Basque Country, first held in 2022. Every edition has ended in Donostia, also known as San Sebastián, on a stage that borrows the roads of the Clásica San Sebastián. Demi Vollering won three of the first four.

Vollering wins all three stages in 2022

Demi Vollering won every stage of the first Itzulia Women. The last one ran 139.8 kilometers on the route of the Clásica San Sebastián, over Jaizkibel and then Murgil, a wall with ramps of up to 20 percent. Shirin van Anrooij was alone in front at the foot of Murgil and was caught eight kilometers from the finish. Vollering accelerated 150 meters from the top, gained 18 seconds and held them to the boulevard in Donostia.

The overall winner receives a txapela, the Basque beret, and hers was the first. Pauliena Rooijakkers and Kristen Faulkner finished second and third overall.

Jaizkibel, Gurutze and Mendizorrotz: the Donostia stage

In 2024, 2025 and 2026 the last stage crossed Jaizkibel, Gurutze and Mendizorrotz, in that order. Mendizorrotz has been the last climb of every edition, but the road up it and the distance left afterward have changed. In 2022 the riders took the steeper side, 2 kilometers at 10.1 percent, and reached the top nine kilometers from the line. A year later they climbed 4.1 kilometers at 7.3 percent by the Murgil wall, and the top was 28.6 kilometers from the finish. In 2025 the summit came exactly ten kilometers from the line.

The two days before Donostia are hilly too. The 2024 opener from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Elgoibar was the longest stage of that edition and had the most climbing. The 2026 race began with six climbs in 121 kilometers around Zarautz, in sunshine, rain and hail.

Reusser’s solo takes the 2023 race from Vollering

Vollering won the first two stages in 2023, which made five stage wins from five, and started the last day 56 seconds ahead of her SD Worx teammate Marlen Reusser. On Mendizorrotz, Annemiek van Vleuten attacked two kilometers from the top and only Vollering could follow. They crossed the summit 28 seconds clear. Van Vleuten did the work on the way back to Donostia, because Vollering had a teammate in the group behind.

That group, with Reusser, Kasia Niewiadoma and Olivia Baril, caught the two leaders 13 kilometers from the finish. Reusser attacked from the back, Vollering did not chase, and Reusser rode the last 12.8 kilometers alone. The others finished 2 minutes 38 seconds later, and Reusser won the race by 1 minute 50 seconds from Vollering. “I asked Demi what if this tactic leads to a change in the GC and I win it instead she said that’s fine for her,” Reusser said.

Bredewold leads twice, Vollering wins twice: 2024 and 2025

In 2024 Mischa Bredewold won the first two stages for SD Worx-Protime and led the race into Donostia. On the steepest part of Mendizorrotz her teammate Vollering bridged to the front with Juliette Labous, dropped her and reached the top alone with 28.5 kilometers to ride. She won by 44 seconds and took the overall, with Bredewold second at 34 seconds and Labous third. SD Worx had then won all nine stages in the race’s history. “It’s amazing, we win every stage three years in a row, that’s incredible,” Vollering said.

The 2025 race followed the same script with one change. Bredewold again won the first two stages, which stretched the SD Worx run to 11, and started the last day with a 12-second lead. Vollering was now riding for FDJ-Suez, and she had crashed the day before. She attacked on Mendizorrotz, dropped Mavi García and then Antonia Niedermaier, and won by 55 seconds. It was her third overall win. Bredewold finished second again, and Sarah van Dam took third.

Bredewold holds on to win in 2026

In the fifth edition Bredewold won the opening stage in Zarautz from a group of five and took the yellow jersey once more. She started the Donostia stage 16 seconds ahead of Yara Kastelijn. On the last climb Niedermaier’s pace cut the front group to seven riders, and Bredewold was not among them. She lost 30 seconds, which made Kastelijn the leader on the road.

Bredewold closed to within 10 seconds on the descent and rode the last three kilometers alone, leaving behind the two Lidl-Trek riders who had been with her. Dominika Włodarczyk won the stage, her second of the race, and Bredewold kept the jersey. Kastelijn finished second overall and Lauren Dickson third.

This race compresses the Basque Country's signature climbing into a tight window, making it a sharp test of stage-race form in late spring. The roads pitch up constantly through green valleys, and the narrow descents reward technical confidence. It sits at a useful point on the calendar for riders building toward summer stage races or using it as a standalone target. Demi Vollering won three of the first four editions, establishing it as a race that favors climbers who can sustain threshold efforts across consecutive days.