Itzulia Basque Country

Itzulia Basque Country is a six-day WorldTour cycling stage race held each April through Spain's Basque region. First run in 1924, it was revived in 1969 and has become a key test for stage racers and for riders preparing for the Ardennes classics.

Itzulia Basque Country is a six-day WorldTour stage race held each April on the short, steep roads of the Basque Country in northern Spain. First run in 1924, it has often been settled by a time trial or on the climb to Arrate above Eibar, and the winner is given a txapela, a Basque hat.

From the first race in 1924 to the 1969 revival

The first Tour of the Basque Country was held in 1924, and Francis Pélissier won it. The race ran every year through 1930 and once more in 1935, when Gino Bartali won. Then the Spanish Civil War stopped it.

It came back in 1969, merged with the Bicicleta Eibarresa, a race from Eibar. Four teams and 39 riders started in Eibar on April 16. Jacques Anquetil won without taking a stage, 32 seconds ahead of Francisco Gabica, and it was the last victory of his career.

The Eibar race later went its own way again, in its last years as the Euskal Bizikleta. In 2009 the two organizing committees merged, the Euskal Bizikleta left the calendar, and its final stage to the sanctuary of Arrate passed to the bigger race. Long known by its Spanish name, Vuelta al País Vasco, the race now runs as Itzulia Basque Country, from its Basque name, Euskal Herriko Itzulia. The 2024 race, held 100 years after the first, was the 63rd edition.

Arrate, Eibar and the steep Basque climbs

The Basque Country has no high passes. The race is hard because the short, steep climbs keep coming. The six stages of 2026 covered 810.1 kilometers and 29 categorized climbs, with more than 16,000 meters of climbing. April is wet here, and a week without a day of heavy rain is unusual.

Arrate is a sanctuary on the ridge above Eibar, the valley town where the bicycle makers Orbea and BH began. The main road up from the town is the Alto de Usartza. Since 2016 the race has also used a narrower road known as Krabelin, five kilometers long, where the first 3.5 kilometers average 11 percent and the ramps reach 16. When Ion Izagirre won in 2019, he was the first Basque winner of that decade.

Alberto Contador’s four wins and the final time trial

Two Itzulia winners share the record of four victories. José Antonio González Linares won in 1972, 1975, 1977 and 1978. Alberto Contador matched him with wins in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2016, and each of the four finished with a time trial. He won that last stage in 2008, 2009 and 2016. In 2014 he led from the opening stage and was second in the time trial, seven seconds slower than Tony Martin.

The 2008 time trial covered 20 kilometers around Orio and climbed the Alto de Aia, where the gradient reaches 22 percent. Contador beat Cadel Evans by 22 seconds. In 2016 he began the closing 16.5-kilometer time trial six seconds behind Sergio Henao, won the stage and took the race by 12 seconds. A year later he went for a fifth title and finished second to Alejandro Valverde.

Primož Roglič’s wins in 2018 and 2021

Primož Roglič finished second to Julian Alaphilippe on the first two stages in 2018. He then won the 19.4-kilometer time trial in Lodosa by nine seconds and took the lead. On the last stage, to Arrate, he crashed inside the first five kilometers, chased back without teammates and still won the race by 1 minute 9 seconds from Mikel Landa.

In 2021, after a year lost to the pandemic, Roglič won the opening time trial in Bilbao, two seconds ahead of Brandon McNulty. McNulty led the race going into the last stage, 112 kilometers with seven climbs. On a descent with 70 kilometers to go, Astana raised the pace, Roglič followed, and McNulty and his teammate Tadej Pogačar were caught too far back. McNulty lost contact on Krabelin. David Gaudu won the stage at Arrate with Roglič just behind him, and Roglič won the race by 52 seconds from his teammate Jonas Vingegaard, with Pogačar third.

The 2024 crash on the descent from Olaeta

Vingegaard won three stages and the overall in 2023. He came back in 2024 as defending champion, with Roglič and Remco Evenepoel also in the field. Roglič won the opening time trial and was leading on April 4, when the fourth stage crossed the Olaeta climb. On the descent, on a fast right-hand bend, at least 10 riders went down, and some landed in a concrete drainage ditch beside the road.

Vingegaard broke a collarbone and several ribs and punctured a lung. Evenepoel broke his right collarbone and shoulder blade. Jay Vine fractured three vertebrae. Roglič had no fractures, but all three favorites were out of the race.

The stage was neutralized. The six riders in the breakaway raced for the stage, which Louis Meintjes won, and no time counted for the general classification. Mattias Skjelmose inherited the lead and held it until the last stage around Eibar, where Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodríguez rode away from him. Rodríguez won the stage and Ayuso the race. Vingegaard spent twelve days in a hospital in Vitoria and returned at the Tour de France, where he won a stage three months after the crash.

João Almeida’s 2025 win and Paul Seixas in 2026

João Almeida took the lead in 2025 with a solo win on the fourth stage. He won the last stage as well, in a two-man sprint against Enric Mas, and became the first Portuguese winner.

In 2026 Paul Seixas, 19 years old, won the opening time trial in Bilbao, on the course Roglič had won on in 2021. The next day he attacked on San Miguel de Aralar and rode the last 26 kilometers alone. He won a third stage in Eibar, in a sprint against Florian Lipowitz.

On the last day, in the rain to Bergara, he had to chase alone for most of the final hour. Seixas led from the first stage to the last and won by 2 minutes 30 seconds from Lipowitz. At 19 years, six months and 18 days he is the youngest winner in the history of the race.

This race offers no hiding places. The Basque Country's green valleys and forested climbs create a relentless rhythm of short, steep ascents that recur daily, testing who can climb well when tired and recover overnight to do it again. It comes in April, shortly before the Ardennes classics, and brings Grand Tour contenders and one-day specialists to the same roads. The atmosphere is distinct: Basque flags line tight valley roads, and the crowds bring intensity to climbs that might otherwise feel remote.