The Basque Country is one of cycling’s heartlands, where the sport is beloved by the local populace, and it’s easy to see why. The hilly landscape is a perfect natural theatre for great bike racing, and every spring these roads host one of the most exciting stage races of the season: Itzulia Basque Country.
The race is a puncheurs dream, with five stages (following an opening individual time trial) all similar in nature, featuring short, steep climbs, relatively low in altitude, but high in difficulty.
There are no flat stages for the pure sprinters, but neither is there any that finish atop a high mountain, meaning any stage could be decisive, and the balance of power in the GC race could shift at any moment.
CONTENDERS
ISAAC DEL TORO
Victories at Tirreno-Adriatico and the UAE Tour have helped further accelerate Isaac Del Toro’s rapid rise to becoming one of the very best in the world, and he goes into Itzulia Basque Country as the man to beat. This is a race that his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team have made their own in recent years, triumphing last year with João Almeida, and with Juan Ayuso in 2024 as one of four riders in the top seven. Even without Tadej Pogačar, they will again be stacked with talent with the likes of Brandon McNulty and Marc Soler to support Del Toro. Better yet, the punchy terrain plays into the Mexican's strengths, making him a tough man for anyone to beat.
Read more: Poise, power, pérdida - Isaac del Toro's rise to cycling stardom
Del Toro lit up the 2025 Giro d'Italia (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
JUAN AYUSO
Juan Ayuso goes into Itzulia Basque Country with several points to prove. Though he won the overall title here two years ago, the circumstances in which he did so (after a horrifying crash that took out his main rivals) means he may want to demonstrate he can do so against top opposition; and he’s also going up against his old team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who he had a tense relationship with. Though he already sent a message riding for new team Lidl-Trek by defeating João Almeida to win Volta ao Algarve earlier this season, the crash he suffered at Paris-Nice at his subsequent race means his form going into the Basque Country is unknown. But at his best, the 23-year-old has everything it takes to win here.
Ayuso has had a succesful start to life at Lidl-Trek but crashed out of the recent Paris-Nice (Image: Getty)
PAUL SEIXAS
Every time he rides, the thrillingly talented teenager Paul Seixas is accompanied by a chorus of excitement and expectations, and so far this year he has lived up to the hype. At Volta ao Algarve he won the first summit finish and held on for second overall, then, after demolishing the field at the Faun-Ardèche Classic, beat everyone bar the unbeatable Tadej Pogačar to take second at Strade Bianche. That latter result in particular was the first sign of him being competitive at the very highest level, though, as his first World Tour stage race of the season (and his first since finishing eighth overall at Critérium du Dauphiné last year), Itzulia Basque Country poses a new test for the nineteen-year-old. Will he be able to ride with the consistency necessary to take victory over the course of the whole week? The way he’s improving so rapidly suggests the answer is likely ‘yes’.
Seixas is the rising star of the cycling world (Image: Getty)
Primož Roglič
Does the 36-year-old Primož Roglič still have it in him to win a race like Itzulia Basque Country? He has an excellent record here, having won twice in the past, and its punchy climbs and opening individual time trial suits his talents to a tee. But he’s now facing a new generation of talent of contenders over a decade younger than him, with one, Paul Seixas, almost half of his age. But fifth overall while riding for his teammate Giulio Pellizzari at Tirreno-Adriatico last month indicates he still has the legs to compete, and in the absence of both the Italian and Remco Evenepoel, he will be Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe’s outright leader.
Can the veteran Roglič challenge the youngsters? (Image: Getty)
ANTONIO TIBERI
At the UAE Tour earlier this year, Antonio Tiberi came within whisker of taking the overall victory, only losing the leader’s jersey on the last climb of the race when a charging Isaac Del Toro attacked brutally up the Jebel Hafeet to prise it off him. That makes the Italian one of a select few riders in the past few years who have given the all-conquering UAE Team Emirates-XRG juggernaut a headache at a stage race, and suggested the 24-year-old, who has long shown promise, has now developed enough to compete among the best for GC titles. His form has dipped since then, enduring an anonymous Tirreno-Adriatico, but if he can find his best legs again he can compete for what would be the biggest victory of his career so far.
Read more: Remorse, Giro and Tour: Antonio Tiberi's slow journey towards public rehabilitation
Tiberi has had a strong start to 2026 (Image: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
OTHER CONTENDERS
Recent form suggests that Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), who was fourth overall at Tirreno-Adriatico, has continued to improve this year following his breakthrough 2025 season, and now has the ability to compete for a podium at a prestigious stage race like this. Similarly, a top ten overall finish for Cian Uijtdebroeks at Volta a Catalunya shows that he is back in form after long-term fitness problems, and should pull rank of his Spanish teammates to lead the Movistar line-up, while a stage win for Harold Tejada means he’ll like do the same for XDS-Astana.
There are a number of quality riders who could deputise should their team leaders falter, notably Mattias Skjelmose for Ayuso’s Lidl-Trek, and Matthew Riccitello of Seixas’ Decathlon CMA CGM. Pello Bilbao could do the same for Tiberi’s Bahrain-Victorious line-up, although, at the age of 36, he seems to no longer have the legs as those which brought him four top ten finishes in the past. The same could be said for 37-year-old Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), himself a former winner and five-time podium finisher, and is age finally catching up on 36-year-old Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), who was off the pace at Volta a Catalunya?
Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost) could either go for GC or chase stage wins, on parcours that suits him. The lack of flat stages means there are plenty of opportunities for puncheurs like Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) to bag a victory.
PREDICTION
Having already got one over Del Toro by dropping him at the end of Strade Bianche, we predict that Itzulia Basque County will witness the unstoppable rise of Paul Seixas, who is ready to claim what would be a career-first World Tour title.
