Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) scored his first win of 2025 on his opening race day of the road season at the GP Miguel Indurain.
Nys beat Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to the line by three seconds, while Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium.
"I dreamed about this last night," Nys said after the race, according to Het Nieuwsblad. "I knew that my form was good and that the course was made for me.
"My legs felt good, but it is always a question mark how that will translate during the first race of the season. We did well with the team. We were in the right places at the right times, and in the final, we executed it perfectly, with Bauke Mollema in the leading group. On the final climb, I could do my thing. I knew that I could win if I reached the top with 5 seconds.
"This is actually all towards the Ardennes classics. To be able to taste a victory at least once, that is great."
The battle for the win unfolded after the final survivors from the break of the day were caught 14km from the finish line.
Anthon Charmig (XDS Astana), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) were the last men standing, and it wasn't long before the attacking began again on the hilly run towards the finish line in Estella-Lizarra.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates-XRG raised the pace, leading to an attack from UAE's Marc Soler and Cofidis rider Alex Aranburu. The pair didn't create a major gap, but a counter-attack did have more success.
Molenaar, Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek), and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) got away with 6.5km to go, pulling out a slim lead over the Movistar-led peloton in the process.
The quartet built a lead of 15 seconds on the run to the line, but attacks – and work by various teams – from behind would eventually lead to the move disintegrating on the closing hills of the race.
Vercher and Molenaar launched a move just outside the 2km mark, while further back, it was Nys who was jumping from the peloton. Vercher took over at the front, but only briefly on the Alto Ibarra.
There, it was Nys who sped past on the way to victory, the Belgian holding a slim lead over the race's final kilometres to finish three seconds up on eventual second-placed man Molenaar.
Results
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