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SAN SEBASTIAN SPAIN MAY 15 Demi Vollering of Netherlands and Team SD Worx Yellow Leader Jersey celebrates winning the 1st Itzulia Women 2022 Stage 3 a 1398km stage from DonostiaSan Sebastin to DonostiaSan Sebastin ItzuliaWomen UCIWWT on May 15 2022 in San Sebastian Spain Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo MorenoGetty Images — Demi Vollering (SD Worx) wins Itzulia Women 2022(Image credit: Getty Images)

Itzulia Women - Vollering wins stage 3 to take overall victory

Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) won all three stages and the general classification at the Itzulia Women.

Vollering attacked over the top of the final climb of stage 3, the steep Murgil Tontorra, and soloed to the finish in Donostia, crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of Liane Lippert (Team DSM) who outsprinted Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) to win the sprint for second place.

Vollering secured the overall title ahead of runner-up Pauliena Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM), who finished at 47 seconds back, with Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) rounding out the podium in third place at 1:07 minutes.

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Itzulia Women 2022 Overview

Dates: May 13-15, 2022
Distance: 363.6km
Start: Vitoria-Gasteiz
Finish: Donastia-San Sebastián

Join Cyclingnews for event coverage all three days, and check in after each stage for our full report, results, gallery, news and features.

Making its debut in 2022, the Itzulia Basque Country race for women, Itzulia Women, will launch May 13-15 as a Women’s WorldTour event, organised by OCETA. The first edition was scheduled for 2021 but was delayed until this year.

The three-day race will travel through all three territories of Euskadi - Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, and will finish along the route of the Clásica San Sebastián. A total of 363.6km will be covered and include 13 classified mountain passes and six intermediate sprints, two in each stage.

Lining up for the start in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Capital City of the Basque Country, will be 22 total teams. There are 12 WorldTour squads confirmed, only seeing the absence of Jumbo-Visma and Uno-X Women Pro Cycling. Ten Continental teams will be on the start list.

Itzulia Women 2022 route

The race opens with 105.9km from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Labastida. It has a demanding start and a category 3 mountain pass, where a breakaway could form. After the first 45km, two more categorised climbs follow in a 22km stretch and then the route starts to descend. The final 25km roll up and down to the finish line.

Stage 2 includes typical Biscayan terrain with continuous uphill and downhill sections, including six categorised climbs, five of them cat 3, but none of the climbs are too demanding so teams may find it difficult to control the race. There is a slight uphill finish to conclude the 117.9km course in Mallabia, which is also used for the start.

The third and final stage is the longest of the race, 139.8km, and it follows the same route as the last two editions of the Donostiako Klasikoa Women’s race, the start and finish in Donastia-San Sebastián. The key feature is the Jaizkibel pass, and then the Murgil “wall” will be the ultimate judge of the stage and possibly of the final winner of the Itzulia Women 2022.

Check out the full route map and descriptions for each stage.