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Thanks for joining us today! This Itzulia Basque Country is threatening to turn into the Paul Seixas show, but tomorrow might see him hold back and go into defensive mode on what is a relatively easier day.
That could bring the punchy sprinters into contention for the stage win, but there’s also a chance for the breakaway to succeed. It’s a well-balanced stage, which looks set to be an exciting one – see you again tomorrow, when we’ll again be providing you live coverage start to finish.
Relive the action today with our report of how the stage went down.
Seixas is looking sublime, but he’s helped by the fact that the men expected to be his main rivals are lacking the best form. Del Toro is now 2:44 down in eighth overall, while Juan Ayuso has shipped a whole 3:55 in 16th.
Mikel Landa has just reached the finish. It looked like he might abandon after his heavy fall on the descent, but he managed to pick himself up and reach the finish. Chapeau.
Behind Seixas, it’s all change in the GC. Vauquelin and Großschartner tumble out of contention, while Roglič, Lipowitz, Skjelmose and Tulett climb up to second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. Every other rider is over 2:30 adrift of the yellow jersey.
The result means that Seixas has a huge lead already on GC, just one second shy of Primož Roglič in second.
Seixas then spent the rest of the stage soloing to victory
This was the moment on the climb when Seixas first broke away from the peloton.
So that’s two days and two wins for Paul Seixas at the Itzulia Basque Country. Right now he looks at an entire different level than the rest of the field – which is quite something to say of a nineteen-year-old.
Del Toro was missing from that main chase group that reached the line together, failing to keep up with the pace as they sprinted to the top.
Roglič took third in the sprint.
Skjelmose wins the sprint for second, in a group of seven that reached the top together.
The third group has joined the second, and it looks like it’s ging to be a big sprint for second-place.
But the stage win will be Seixas’, who is nearing the finish now.
Uijtdebroeks is attacking in an attempt to go clear from the second group.
The second group is 10 seconds ahead of the third group.
Seixas is being cheered up the final steep kilometres by the Basque fans on the roadside.
Astana have three riders in the third group, Champoussin, Higuita and Tejada, along with Roglic, Del Toro and Tulett. They’re trying to bring back the second group.
The Del Toro / Roglič group has the main chase group in sight now. Could they come back together?
2km to go for Seixas, his lead up to 1:20. The stage victory is surely his.
Lipowitz is working at the front again as the chase begin the climb.
Seixas had to move around a spectator who was on the road as he started the climb. It was unclear what had happened to him.
Seixas swings onto the final 4km uphill to the finish, his lead at 1:15.
5km to go for Seixas, and his lead is up some more, to 1:10.
One rider missing from this chase group is the man who was second overall, Vauquelin.
Skjelmose is taking turns at the front, but Lipowitz sat at the back. He must be citing Roglič’s presence in the group behind as reason for not cooperating.
If the chase group aren’t careful, they could be seeing their chances for overall victory disappearing out of reach ahead of them.
Lipowitz and Skjelmose are playing mind games, dropping right to the back of the group and even letting a small gap open up between themselves and the other three.
Still the five chasers are looking at each other, rather than committing to the chase.
Landa has crashed on the descent, and it looks like a heavy one.
Juan Ayuso is much further behind, in a group two minutes behind the leader.
The five riders behind aren’t working well together.
The descent is more shallow than the ascent up, and isn’t especially technical.
15km to go, Seixas is retaining his lead of 50 seconds on the descent.
Lipowitz, Uijtdebroeks, Baudin, Skjelmose and Izagirre crested the climb a little ahead of the other chasers.
Behind, Lipowitz is caught by the chase group just as he summit the climb.
Attack from Lipowitz, and this time he’s gone clear!
Now Izagirre aand Roglic join them.
As has Uijtdebroeks.
Lipowitz has clawed up to his wheel.
Del Toro ups the pace on a steeper section, and has a small gap.
1.5km from the top for Seixas, his lead at 45 seconds.
Tejada has joined the chasers from behind, and Landa is nearing them.
Lipowitz led for a little while, but now Del Toro takes over again.
Cohesion has broken down though, as the Red Bull riders try attacking.
Del Toro is leading the chase group, and is keeping the gap at 45 seconds.
Seixas is riding away from them all though – he’s grown his lead to 45 seconds.
There are nine riders in the chase – Roglič, Lipowitz, Del Toro, Tulett, Baudin, Skjelmose, Uijtdebroeks, Izagirre and Champoussin
They’ve been joined by more riders, including Primož Roglič.
Del Toro ups the pace in the chase, taking Tulett, Lipowitz, Uijtdebroeks and Izagirre with him.
Lipowitz has been caught by that chase group, which is 20 seconds behind now.
Included in that group of 12 are Del Toro, Tulett, Skjelmose, Uijtdebroeks, and those who were in the day’s break still.
The peloton behind Lipowitz only has about 12 riders left in it.
Lipowitz has set off in pursuit of the yellow jersey by himself, but is 15 seconds adrift already.
Back in the chase group, Ayuso is struggling, and has been droped out of it.
Bou tried to hang on to his wheel, but Seixas is now clear by himself.
Seixas has caught them, and now leads the race, with 25.5km left to ride.
Seixas has caught and passed Van den Broeck, and is bearing down on the rest.
Lipowitz is leading the chase behind, aleady about ten seconds behind.
Nobody is following him.
The gradient steepens, and García Pierna ups the pace in the break.
Hayter and Van den Broeck have joined the leading duo, but not Armirail.
Still it’s Decathlon who lead, and have the peloton all spread out, with some being dropped towards the back, including Alaphilippe.
Mintegi was dropped out the break, and is taken back by the peloton.
Back in the break, Bou and García Pierna have attacked out from the break.
Well, it’s not exactly a long line – Paul Seixas has two riders pacing him.
Now Decathlon take over again, with a long line.
Lidl lead the peloton onto the climb, led by Simmons.
And now here comes the peloton onto the climb, the pace back up again.
Here we go! The break swings on to the San Miguel de Aralar, and will spend the next 9.4km climbing at 7.8%.
The pace is up in the peloton, and the gap is consequently coming down. They now have little more than a minute.
Which riders do we need to look out for? The likes of Kévin Vauquelin, Primož Roglič and Florian Lipowitz are the most immediate threats to Paul Seixas on GC, but Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso should enjoy such a tough climb too.
We’re nearing crunch time. They’ll be climbing in less than 10km, and the race for position in the peloton is on.
Hayter is talking to his team car, and seems to have some kind of problem with his bike. He’s riding on for now.
Hayter has taken the seconds, and dropped back into the break.
There are some bonus seconds available, and Hayter has attacked out of the break in pursuit of them.
Axel Laurance was the other Ineos rider to go down in the crash, though he and Hamilton are back in the peloton now.
The break’s lead isn’t getting much bigger. It’s holding at around 1:30.
There are about 20km until the foot of the final climb. The pace in the peloton is likely to increase the closer they get to it, as the battle for position ignites.
Ineos’ leader Vauquelin was held up a little, but didn’t go down, and was unaffected.
It appears that everyone is up and running again. Lucas Hamilton was the worst off, but is also riding his way back to the peloton.
Crash in the peloton – 3 Ineos riders involved, and 2 Tudor riders.
The seven riders in the break today.
The updated KOM rankings, with just one climb left today:
2 Mintegi 6
3 Seixas 3
4 Armirail 2
5 Fajardo 2
6 Mollema 2
Things have calmed down again in the peloton, and Decathlon has resumed control.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG are the team leading the peloton on the descent. There was news in their camp today, as it was announced that Brandon McNulty has signed a contract extension with the team.
The peloton has also crested the climb, just 45 seconds after the break. The jostling for position by the GC teams increased the pace significantly, reflected by the reduction of the gap.
The GC teams in the peloton are making sure to stay right at the front on this narrow climb. The likes of UAE and Ineos are now riding up there with Decathlon.
A nice gesture from Hayter in the break, who hands his bidon to a child watching on the roadside.
The road surface here is also pretty rough, adding to the difficulty, but we’re still too far out for any of the GC contenders to light things up in the peloton.
The road narrows as they swing onto the steep final slopes to the summit of Aldatz. This one’s a category three, so has less points on offer, but these final gradients are tough.
Enzo Paleni and Rémy Rochas were the two Groupama riders involved in the crash earlier.
The updated KOM rankings, after Bou, Mintegi and Van den Broeck took the points:
2 Mintegi 6
3 Seixas 3
4 Farjado 2
5 Mollema 2
There’s a crash in the peloton as they near the top. Two riders went down, both of them Groupama riders.
Fajardo has dropped back into the peloton.
80KM TO GO
Decathlon’s pace on this climb is bringing the break’s lead down. It’s at 1:20, the lowest it’s been since shortly after it initially formed.
The break are on the Alto de Zuarrarrate, and Farjado has been dropped.
Still it’s Decathlon CMA CGM who lead the peloton.
One rider whose performance will be of particular interest today will be Juan Ayuso’s. Was his problems in the time trial yesterday a mere bad day, or does he lack his top form and fitness? The Spaniard has said that he intends to keep fighting for GC, and hopes to improve as the race goes on.
The upcoming climb is the Alto de Zuarrarrate – a long one, at 7.3km, but not especially steep, averaging a pretty steady 4.7%.
90KM TO GO
The gap’s grown again, to 1:55. They’re nearing the end of this flat section, and will be climbing again soon.
Today is one of many that Raúl García Pierna has ventured out into the break on already this year, having already done so at Paris-Nice and Volta Comunitat Valenciana, to name a few. He managed to take a stage in the latter, too, and is on paper one of the strongest riders in the group.
Frank van den Broek is another rider in the break who could be hard to bring back – as anyone who remembers the opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France will attest to.
Ethan Hayter is another man who, like Armirail, is trying again after delivering a time trial short of his best. His form has been erratic for the past few years, but by getting into the break today he’s shown he has the appetite to ride for a stage win.
Armirail’s presence in the break also suggests that his Visma-Lease a Bike team are targeting stage wins rather than the GC. Though they have Ben Tulett well-placed in fourteenth on the overall rankings following yesterday’s time trial, they haven’t brought any of their big stage race guns to the Basque Country.
But it’s still a strong line- up, epitomised by Armirail, and will make them dangerous prospects on days like this in the hunt for stage wins.
This is a strong breakaway the peloton has allowed to go clear, with Bruno Armirail in particular standing out.
He’s the current virtual yellow jersey, as the highest man in the group on GC (at 50 seconds). Though not at his best in yesterday’s time trial, he’s a master escape artist, and possesses the kind of unfatigable engine that requires a very big effort to bring him back.
The riders are at last over the climb and now get to enjoy a lengthy descent, before a flat run-in to the next climb.
Even Paul Seixas himself sounded a little taken aback by how good his performance at yesterday’s time trial was. He’s now the frontrunner for overall victory, but doesn’t want to overhype his chances, describing himself merely as “being in the running” for the title.
The gradient kicks up now for the final 4km to the summit, from the false flat they have been riding up to 5%.
Decathlon have taken on the responsibility of leading the peloton, for their leader in the yellow jersey. It’s a rare position the team find themselves in, but one that will likely become more common the longer they retain the services of Paul Seixas.
The kind of terrain they’re taking on at the moment is typical of the Basque Country. It’s not a classified climb, but the road has been going up for almost 10km, and will continue doing so, with varying gradients, for about another 10km.
Paul Seixas in yellow, safely in the peloton.
Here are the updated virtual KOM rankings. Bou takes over the lead from Seixas, who had led by setting the fastest time at the top of the climb during yesterday’s time trial:
2 Mintegi 4 points
3 Seixas 3 points
4 Fajardo 2 points
5 Mollema 2 points
Incidentally, Joan Bou was the first rider to the summit of the Alto de Etxauri, meaning he leads the virtual mountains classification with 6 points. Mintegi took 4 points by being second, and Fajardo 2 points in third.
It’s another warm, sunny day in the Basque Country, with no threat of any rain.
At last, Armirail and García Pierna have made the juncture on the descent. We have a new leading group of seven.
The time gap between the peloton and the leaders is now being reported at a much bigger distant, to over two minutes. That suggests the peloton is happy to let both the leaders and the chasers get up the road.
As a result, the leading five’s advantage has been reduced too, down from about 1:30 to 50 seconds.
The peloton appear less happy to let this pair go. They’ve upped the pace and are keeping them at just five seconds.
This isn’t done yet. Two riders have jumped out of the peloton hoping to catch up to the leaders, and they’re a strong pair – Bruno Armirail and Raúl García Pierna.
The riders making their way through the streets of Pamplona at the start, more famous for bulls roaming through it than hoards of cyclists.
Fajardo has made the junction. With the peloton seemingly happy about the personnel in this group, they’re not having to ride this climb too hard.
The break is growing its lead on the climb, up to 1:20. Fajardo is still chasing behind, with 10 seconds to make up.
As they start the climb, the leading four have built a big lead already, of almost a minute. Unless more riders want to use the climb to get into the break, this could be the day’s break formed.
Adrián Fajardo is chasing that quartet trying to join them.
Four new riders have attacked – Hayter, Van den Broeck, Mintegi and Bou.
The stage begins with a few kilometres of flat, but very soon they’ll be climbing, up the category two Alto de Etxauri (6.6km at 6.6%). That will shape the kind of riders who will be able to get into the break today – put simply, they have to be good at climbing.
Four riders have attacked already, but all brought back.
Paul Seixas in the yellow jersey this morning before the start.
The riders are moving through the neutralised section in Pamplona. Not long before they’ll see the flag.
To catch up with everything that happened during yesterday’s stage, have a read of our full race report.
There will, therefore, be no time for Paul Seixas to enjoy a simple day on his first day wearing the overall leader’s jersey. As impressive as he was in yesterday’s time trial, this will be a new test for him as he learns more and more about racing at World Tour level.
Averaging 7.8% for 9.4km, the San Miguel de Aralar is certainly hard enough to cause time gaps, even if there is some distance between its summit to the finish at Lekunberri.
The final climb will be San Miguel de Aralar, crested just under 20km from the finish. It’s new to Itzulia Basque Country, but did feature at the Vuelta a España in 2020, when Marc Soler attacked out of a small group of favourites on the descent to solo to victory.
This second stage of Itzulia Basque Country is no simple transition to ease the riders back into road racing following yesterday’s time trial opener. Instead, this is a tough day in the Basque hills, featuring a category one climb towards the finish that will draw the GC contenders out into a fight.
Hello and welcome to stage two of Itzulia Basque Country!
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