Itzulia Women

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 has won three of the first four editions, establishing it as a race that favors climbers who can sustain threshold efforts across consecutive days.

The race typically features two or three stages with meaningful climbing, often including a summit finish or a punchy hilltop finale that separates the general classification contenders. Stages are shorter than in the men's race, but the terrain is just as unforgiving: constant elevation change, narrow roads through forested valleys, and little flat ground for recovery. When a time trial is included, it tends to be hilly rather than flat, reinforcing the climber-friendly character. The compressed format means that a single bad day can decide the overall, and teams with depth can control the race more easily than in longer stage races. Breakaways succeed when the favorites are evenly matched or when a team miscalculates the day's difficulty, but the climbs ensure that only strong riders reach the finish in contention.