2025 Itzulia Basque Country - Everything you need to know
2025 Itzulia Basque Country startlist
Race situation
Spanish national champion solos to victory but it later disqualified for taking the wrong route round a roundabout as yellow stays with Max Schachmann.
Hello and welcome to CyclingNews' live report on stage three of the Itzulia Basque Country 2025.
Today's stage goes from Zarautz and finishes in Beasain after 156.3km over very hill terrain. There are seven categorised climbs along the route with the final climb being Lazkaomendi (1.4km with an average gradient of 10% max of 18%) topping out with 5km to the finish.
Unfortunately, after crashing yesterday, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) has abandoned the race.
🇪🇸 #Itzulia2025Following his crash during the second stage of Itzulia Basque Country, Victor Campenaerts will not be starting today’s stage.We wish Victor a speedy recovery. 🍀April 9, 2025
Another rider to leave the race today is yesterday's stage winner, Caleb Ewan (Ineos Grenadiers). With no more sprint stages in he race, it makes sense for the Australian fast man to leave after getting his win.
Half an hour until the race is scheduled to officially start. There is a neutralised section for the riders to take first, though, which is due to set off in 20 minutes.
Jersey wearers:
Multiple attacks on the front of the peloton.
There is still no breakaway. Attacks keep coming but nothing is sticking just yet.
The riders have started the first climb of the day, the Meaga, and there is still no breakaway. The Meaga climb is 2.9km with an average gradient of 4.1&.
Seven riders are trying to get a gap on the peloton.
KoM (Meaga)
1. Sergio Samitier (ESP) Cofidis 3pts
2. Iñigo Elosegui (ESP) Kern Pharma 2pts
3. Rudy Molard (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 1pt
Multiple riders have joined Okamika at the front of the race...
Breakaway caught.
The riders are onto the second climb of the day, the 13.9km Andazarrate which has an average gradient of 2.6%.
Counter attack!
Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies)
Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos-Burpellet-BH)
They're chasing down the two leaders of Kuypers and Armirail.
Both groups are, once again, caught by the peloton.
The peloton is absolutely flying at the moment with the average speed said to be above 50kph after almost 30km of racing.
More attackers on the front of the peloton trying to form a breakaway.
Armirail and Vercher only have around 10" on the chasing peloton.
There's a new counter move by eight riders in the peloton.
Counter move caught. Armirail and Vercher are still clear out front.
There's a group of 20 riders between the leading duo and the rest of the peloton as the rapid pace splits the bunch.
Chase group:
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers)
Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers)
Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek)
Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek)
Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious)
Max van der Meulen (Bahrain Victorious)
Finlay Pickering (Bahrain Victorious)
Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels)
Anthony Perez (Cofidis)
Roger Adria (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Gregor Muhlberger (Movistar)
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar)
Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost)
Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost)
Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies)
Matthew Dinham (Picnic-PostNL)
Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ)
Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep)
Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma)
Davide De Pretto (Jayco-AlUla)
Alan Hatherly (Jayco-AlUla)
José Manuel Díaz (Burgos-Burpellet-BH)
Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos-Burpellet-BH)
Gerben Kuypers (Intermarche-Wanty)
Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Yannis Voisard (Tudor)
KoM (Andazarrate)
1. Bruno Armirail (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 3pts
2. Mattéo Vercher (FRA) TotalEnergies 2pts
3. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 1pt
The two leaders have 15" on the huge 28 man chasing group and 1'10" on the peloton.
Straight onto the next climb after a brief descent. The 4km long Alkiza climb which averages 6.9% in gradient.
Armiral and Vercher are doing an incredible job of staying out front.
Vercher has been caught by the chasing group as Armirail continues solo.
Every single rider aside from Armiral has been caught by the peloton.
Armirail now has just 25" on the peloton.
Counter attack
They are 48" behind the lone leader, Armirail, and just a handful ahead of the peloton.
KoM (Alkiza)
The riders in 2nd and 3rd have since, of course, been caught by the bunch with new attackers coming out of the peloton on the valley road.
Several groups dot the road between the leader, Armirail, and the peloton as the race heads onto the highest climb of the day, the Santa Ageda. The climb is 9km long and has an average gradient of 6.9%.
Delbove and Juaristi have been caught by the peloton.
Simmons, Le Berre, Perez, Braz Afonso, Schmid, Miquel and Díaz join together to form a chase.
Chasing group caught by the peloton.
Armirail is, once again, the only rider out front. The French time trial champion is hoovering up mountain points and has a gap of just over a minute on the peloton.
The team that has taken control of the peloton is UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
The new pace setting in the bunch sees the time gap drop to just over a minute to Armirail out front.
Dropped from peloton
Not sure what the issue is. Could be as simple as a natural break or a mechanical. But maybe this is the race done for the local star.
KoM (Santa Ageda)
1. Bruno Armirail (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 5pts
2. Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 3pts
3. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 2pts
4. Isaac Del Toro (MEX) UAE Team Emirates 1pt
The peloton are now just 30" behind Armirail.
Bilbao is now over a minute down on the leader.
Bilbao is a minute off the back of the peloton.
Armirail is at the base of the Mandubia climb which is 5.3km with an average gradient of 5.3%.
Kuss, Del Toro and Vlasov have been caught by the peloton led by Movistar just 10" behind Armirail.
Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor) are in the group including Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) which are over a minute off the back of the peloton.
Attack!
This is joined by several other riders with Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) involved as Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) finally caught.
Around 15 riders are just behind Lipowitz with UAE Team Emirates-XRG's McNulty leading as Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) is trying to get back to the front as he is out of the back.
Lipowitz reeled back in by this favourites group and the pace drops. McNulty comes back to the front to try and keep the pace high.
70km to go
The race is in absolute bits on the Mandubia climb. McNulty and Tejada are two extremely strong riders and they have around 10" on the chasers.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Movistar are sharing the work in the peloton with Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) leading the bunch. The yellow jersey of Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) has made it back to the peloton again.
60km to go
Enric Mas (Movistar)
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar)
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)
This is extremely dangerous with Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) leading the chase.
Aleksandr Vlasov just gave his all for Red Bull-Bora-Hangrohe leader, Florian Lipowitz, and now the German is on his own but he has closed the gap superbly.
Lipowitz manages to drag the leaders back.
Despite the attackers getting caught, McNulty has continued the extremely high pace for Almeida who sits on his wheel. Yellow jersey of Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) has managed to drag himself into this favourites group.
Attack!
A classic Soler move as the pace eases slightly in the peloton. More counter moves coming across the gap.
Tow of the counter attackers:
They are rapidly closing in on Soler out front with 53km to go.
Soler is joined by Berthet and Molard.
The pace in the peloton has completely gone. They are almost at a stand still. Soler is just 28" down in the GC with Berthet at 1'16" and Molard at 1'32".
Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ) tries to get clear of the bunch but he is markd out by multiple riders including Del Toro and Lipowitz.
Cofidis now take up the chase in the peloton for Alex Aranburu.
The rider for Cofidis who was riding has now had to pull off the front after emptying the tank. Bahrain Victorious now move to the front along with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Soudal-QuickStep. UAE Team Emirates-XRG trying to disrupt the chase.
The gap goes out to 1'12" between the leaders and the peloton. This is such a dangerous move.
Intermediate sprint (Beasain)
1. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 10pts 3"
2. Clément Berthet (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 6pts 2"
3. Rudy Molard (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 4pts 1"
Potentially key bonus seconds for Soler.
40km to go
Onto the penultimate climb of the day, the Gainza. It is 2.2km with an average gradient of 12.1% and a max kick of 20%. A minute betwen the leaders and the chasing peloton.
Suddenly, Movistar hit the front of the peloton with Visma-Lease a Bike. The pace is very high and the gap drops to 50".
Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) comes to the front with Axel Zingle on his wheel. That is a superb ride by the rapid French puncheur.
Molard has been dropped by Berthet and Soler up front.
Almeida come to the front of the peloton with Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Lipowitz right with the Portuguese star.
Schachmann is right at the back of the group but is starting to lose touch as the pace continues to be relentless.
Berthet drops Soler at the front of the race.
The trio of Almeida, Buitrago and Lipowitz lead the bunch and are almost blocking any new riders coming through as they set a tempo they are comfortable with.
Schachmann looks to have found his legs and has moved up in the main peloton.
Three very fast riders still in the peloton are Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers).
Berthet goes over the top of the Gainza climb. Soler about 15" after him with Molard not too far off the back of his wheel.
The pace has suddenly changed in the peloton as Buitrago has significantly upped the pace leaving about 12 riders in the bunch. Yellow jersey, Schachmann has been dropped.
KoM (Gainza)
1. Clément Berthet (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 3pts
2. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 2pts
3. Rudy Molard (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 1pt
Molard has made it back to Soler.
Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) will wear the mountains jersey tomorrow.
About 10 riders are coming back to the peloton including yellow jersey, Schachmann.
Caught by peloton
Soler and Molard are dragged back into the bunch with Berthet now holding over a minute on the Movistar led bunch.
30km to go
Just 29 riders left in the peloton with Berthet looking very strong out front with 1'07" on the chasing pack.
Attack!
The yellow jersey launches on a move with Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) but now multiple other riders have joined the group.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is not in the yellow jersey group. He is 40" behind that group and, suddenly, UAE Team Emirates-XRG look to be in trouble as they only have Del Toro in the Schachmann group.
Almeida now realises that he is in trouble and could be seeing his race disappear up the road. He is pushing hard to bridge along with Cofidis who are working for Aranburu.
Intermediate sprint (Alegia)
1. Clément Berthet (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 10pts 3"
2. Isaac Del Toro (MEX) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 6pts 2"
3. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 4pts 1"
Lipowitz is now joint leader in the GC with Schachmann and Almeida but the latter is missing from the main group.
Del Toro has sat up and joined the Almeida group and is working hard and is closing the gap between the Schachmann group and his.
Berthet still has 49" on the Schachmann group with a 1'15" gap on the Almeida group with 17km to go.
Leader:
Chasers +38":
Peloton +1'07"
Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) are some of the riders who have rejoined the Almeida group.
10km to go
Berthet is still clear by 22" over the Schachmann/Lipowitz group. The leader has 44" on the Almeida group.
Just 3km to the final climb of the day, the Lazkaomendi climb which is 1.4km with an average gradient of 10% with a max kick of 18%.
Both McNulty and Del Toro have done all they can for Almeida in the chasing group with 20" between the Schachmann group and the Almeida group.
Onto the final climb of the Lazkaomendi. Vlasov leads the chasing group onto the ascent just 11" behind Berthet. The Almeida group are about to make contact as they start climbing.
Tejada dropped by the German duo as they catch and pass Berthet.
However, spearing through the crowd of exhausted riders is the Spanish national champion, Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), dragging them back.
Attack!
João Almeida (UAE Team Emiratees)
The rider with number one on his back uses one of the small kickers to launch and catch the riders by surprise and, with 4km to go, he is flying.
Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) flies across the gap to Almeida using his stunning descending skills but the rest of the group are coming back to them.
Flamme Rouge!
Almeida gets the corner wrong and Aranburu comes through and now has a gap on the rest.
Almeida is caught by the chasers as Aranburu is riding away after picking the correct side of the roundabout.
500 metres to go and the Spanish national champion is riding to the line to a likely victory for Cofidis.
Alex Aranburu of Cofidis wins stage three of the Itzulia Basque Country 2025.
Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) takes third on the day and takes four bonus seconds to keep hold of the yellow jersey and, actually, extends his advantage in the overall standings.
Top 10
1. Alex Aranburu (ESP) Cofidis 3:45'21"
2. Romain Grégoire (FRA) Groupama-FDJ +3"
3. Max Schachmann (GER) Soudal-QuickStep
4. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
5. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar
6. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) Lidl-Trek
7. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Steff Cras (BEL) TotalEnergies
10. Ilan Van Wilder (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep all S.T.
GC after stage three
1. Max Schachmann (GER) Soudal-QuickStep 8:17'47"
2. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +4"
3. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates S.T.
4. Ilan Van Wilder (BEL) Soudal-QuickStep +15"
5. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) Lidl-Trek +16"
6. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Visma-Lease a Bike +37"
7. Romain Grégoire (FRA) Groupama-FDJ +40"
8. Steff Cras (BEL) TotalEnergies +46"
9. Alex Aranburu (ESP) Cofidis +1'03"
10. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar +1'14"
Make sure to have a read of our post race report as the Basque local storms to victory and a resurgent Max Schachmann keeps hold of yellow...
>>> Itzulia Basque Country: Alex Aranburu slips away on late attack to win hilly stage 3
Tomorrow's stage is very similar to today with the day starting at today's finish town of Beasain before heading 169.6km to Markina-Xemein via seven categorised climbs. Should be a superb watch.
Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ is the new stage winner after Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) was disqualified for allegedly taking the wrong route to the line.
Aranburu went the wrong way around the final roundabout which allowed him a greater advantage than he may have otherwise had.
So it is 22-year-old Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ who is celebrating now and heartbreak for the Spanish national champion, Alex Aranburu of Cofidis. This may be appealed by Cofidis as it didn't appear to be clear that it was the wrong way round.
Make sure you stay connected here on CyclingNews as all the updates from this race and others from today come in.
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