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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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