As it happened: early starter triumphs in Itzulia Basque Country stage 1 time trial

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of stage 1 of the 2025 Itzulia Basque Country

The first rider off in this opening 16.5 kilometre individual time trial is at 1415 local time. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) will be getting the ball rolling for the day's battle both for the stage and the first leader's jersey of the race, not to mention one of those nice txapela berets every stage winner gets to wear in the Itzulia.

The route itself is far from complicated. Just 16.5 kilometres long, and with one (very)  minor climb on it, the Arzubiaga (0.9 km à 2.4%) after 4.3 kilometres, which will decide the first mountains classification leader.

Opening short time trials are something of a tradition in the Itzulia, with three in the last four years alone. All three of them, including 2024's, was won by Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), not present in this year's race. Any votes on his possible successor?

The time trial start itself is not the most conventional of places: just like last night's team presentation, it takes place in the Fernando Buesa basketball stadium.

Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) is now underway, and so the 64th edition of the Itzulia Basque Country has officially begun.

The Basque Country is famous for having very unpredictable weather, and fans with very long memories might recall the 2011 edition, when it snowed on a couple of stages. But today, it's supposed to be sunny and dry, with temperatures peaking out at 18C midafternoon. Wind, such as there is, a very gentle 10kph from the north.

Here's a map of the route and profile from the organisation website. Basically a loop around the eastern side of the city.

Riders are off at minute intervals throughout the afternoon, barring the last 20 starters. Last man down the ramp will be Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). McNulty took his first ever WorldTour lead here in Itzulia back in 2021 in what was a breakthrough success, only to lose it thanks to a spectacular long-distance Primoz Roglič ambush on the final day.

2021 Itzulia Basque Country: McNulty takes lead on stage 4

Tejada sets the first time of the day: 19:10.

McNulty is definitely one of the top favourites for the day, with five of his 16 career wins in time trials to date, including the American Nationals last year and 2023, and the opening TT of the Vuelta a España, in Lisbon last autumn. 

Other top time triallists present for the opening Itzulia include McNulty's UAE teammate Joao Almeida, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), and double Danish TT National champion Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).

Ethan Hayter, the former British National TT Champion, clocks a first top time of 18:43. Campenaerts gets close but no cigar, finishing five seconds adrift.

And here's an image of Hayter out on the course.

Hayter was the winner of stage 1 of the Itzulia Basque Country two years back, by the way, in a remarkably technical  downhill sprint.

Ethan Hayter wins opening stage of Itzulia Basque Country 2023

Soudal-Quick Step are making the running here. Max Schachmann, winner of the opening Itzulia TT back in 2019, has just come home six seconds faster than teammate Hayter.

Schachmann was the fastest in the opening TT checkpoint, the summit of the Arzubiaga 'climb', at km 4.3, by one second on Campenaerts,  went to one second down on the Belgian at checkpoint 2, but then opened up the throttle all the way from there to the finish, to come home six seconds up on Hayter.

For those wondering (somebody might be, I guess) why what was initially an 18.7 kilometre individual TT is now down to 16.5 kilometres, it's because in February it was decided that the last part of the original route would be cut back by 2.2 kilometres. The initial idea was apparently to go round a park behind the Fernando Buesa basketball stadium in the closing kilometres, but instead the organisers opted for a 'shortcut' straight back to the stadium carpark, where the finish is situated. So now you know:
Se modifica parte del recorrido de la primera etapa

A shot of 2024 Itzulia mountains classification winner Sepp Kuss in time trial action. Will he go for the same ranking again this year?

Ilan van Wilder continues the Soudal-QuickStep TT success story in the Itzulia stage 1 by coming home in provisional third place, at 11 seconds, behind teammates Schachmann and Hayter.

Max Schachmann talks about his TT on Eurosport: "I left it all out on the road, and of course I'd love to start it again like I did in 2019, but there are still a lot of good riders left to come."
"It was a hard, highspeed course, with not many sections to recover, so a short but spicy start."

Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) goes straight on rather than left at the vehicle finish exit road and then has to rectify. He comes home 48 seconds down on provisional race leader Schachmann.

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) crosses the line 1:05 on race leader Schachmann. Alaphilippe has taken some impressive stage wins here back in the day in Itzulia, but it already looks like any hopes of a GC bid this year are in trouble.

Swiss National TT Champ Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AIUIa) finds a slot between two of his former Soudal-QuickStep teammates and moves into third place at the first checkpoint between Hayter and Van Wilder, four seconds down on Schachmann.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) delivers a major warning shot in the GC battle and flashes through checkpoint 2 (km 9.1) just one second down on provisional best time set by Campenaerts of 11:02. Whatever happens between here and today's finish, this is the first big statement by a potential overall contender in this year's race.

It's an extremely exposed course, running between a lot of open pastureland with no hedges, but given there's virtually no wind, it's not so much of a factor as it could be.

Vlasov fades in the finale and comes within a whisker of nearly going off course like his teammate Van Gils at the same last left-hander where the vehicle exit is situated. He rectifies in time, but the 2022 Itzulia podium finisher still comes home 10 seconds down on Schachmann.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) eases his way across the indoor basketball court that serves as the opening few metres of the TT. Second in Paris-Nice behind Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), interest will be high in how he can fare on another very tough week-long stage race this spring. His only previous result in Itzulia, by the way, was 75th back in 2023.

And here's a shot of Schachmann during the TT course.

Liepowitz moves into fourth place in the provisional ranking, three seconds down on Schachmann at the opening checkpoint. (Km 4.3)

Schachmann passes his minute-man, Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) and forges onwards.

Enric Mas (Movistar), with three top ten places on GC, rolls home 1:10 down on the stage leader Schachmann. That is a challenging time loss for a big overall contender.

Lipowitz scorches home just one second slower than Schachmann, who is visibly relieved at having to fend off such a dangerous rival.

Here's our report from seven years ago on how Schachmann won the opening TT stage of the 2019 Itzulia.
2019 Itzulia Basque Country: Schachmann wins stage 1

The course was very different, featuring a really steep climb mid-way through and taking place on a very rainy day, but Schachmann still managed to win by 10 seconds over Dani Martínez.

Lipowitz is commenting about his time trial to Eurosport, saying that he was sick after Paris-Nice, but "after not training so well in the last three weeks, I came here with very mixed feelings. I don't know the time but if you are right I am super happy with the result. Maybe [if I'd known] you could have gone a bit deeper, but I'm super happy with the result."

Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) flashes through the first checkpoint seven seconds down on Schachmann. He could still get the stage win but he'll have to hammer it in the second half. Interestingly, this is his first ever participation in Itzulia.

Eight seconds disadvantage for Almeida at the second checkpoint on Campenaerts best time of 11:02. 

The top five as things stand, with barely any changes in the last hour or so, but many of the GC favourites are still to come.

1. Max Schachmann  (Soudal-QuickStep) 18:37
2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 1sec
3. Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) at 6sec
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 10sec
5. Ilan Van Wiler (Soudal-QuickStep) at 11sec

That was very close. Almeida powers across the line a mere 0.54 seconds slower than Schachmann. No leader's jersey, then, but going so close bodes very well for the next few days.

Almeida recently delivered a stunning win in Paris-Nice at La Loge des Gardes, incidentally, exactly the kind of punchy, steep climb that proliferate in Itzulia. So his options for a GC bid are not low.

Lipowitz en route to provisional third on the stage

Thibaut Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) becomes the umpteenth rider to nearly come a cropper on the last left-hand corner, just missing the barriers on the far side of the apex as he powers into the finishing straight - in fact, another, much gentler right hand bend. A very technical finish for the end of the TT course.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), third overall last year after losing the lead on the last day to Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), rolls down the start ramp in the eerily empty basketball court.

He's quickly followed by Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), one of the two former winners here (the other is Ion Izagirre), who'll be hoping to repeat his 2022 Itzulia title as he builds for the Giro d'Italia.

Martínez is five seconds down on Schachmann at the first checkpoint. 

US Time Trial Champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), running a 62x11 gear, rolls down the start ramp. Schachmann will be crossing his fingers the American can't repeat his result of the Vuelta a España opening TT last year.

The wind does appear to be picking up for the later starters, which could have an effect on the results today.

Schachmann, a starter at 1441 this afternoon and in the hot seat since he completed his course nearly three hours ago, stares at his phone. It's been a long old wait, but it'll soon be over one way or another.

McNulty crowns the climb a scant four seconds down on Schachmann. He's clearly on a good ride.

Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) crosses the line in twelfth place, 22 seconds down on Schachmann. That puts him into the GC mix and well ahead of nominal Movistar leader Enric Mas, too.

Skjelmose finishes a healthy 12 seconds down on Schachmann, which keeps him in the right side of the GC mix.

Martínez finishes 23 seconds down. A good GC ride. 

Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) crosses the line with a very respectable 18:53, in provisional tenth spot. There's been a lot of talk about how the 2025 Itzulia will be an opportunity for up-and-coming talent to shine given the dearth of big names, and to go by this performance, the young Canadian could well be one to watch .

Just one rider left to finish now - McNulty. He's powering along at 50kmh but still has over a kilometre to go.

McNulty passes Schachmann's time. The German has won the stage and he's giving a thumbs up to show how pleased he is.

Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) wins stage 1 of the 2025 Itzulia Basque Country and is the first race leader. 

Here's today's top ten, courtesy of FirstCycling

The GC of Itzulia Basque Country is traditionally a tight one, and long-term Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will be disappointed at not getting the win, but  very happy with sitting so close to the top of the virtual GC ranking, given Schachmann is not considered an overall favourite.
Promising rides GC-wise from Florian Lipowitz, Aleksandr Vlasov and Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). Enric Mas (Movistar), though, will not be so pleased, having shipped over a minute to the top rivals.

Here's a shot of Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) during the time trial . After that very promising start, he faded noticeably to finish 24th, 34 seconds down.

Here's our report on Itzulia's opening stage:

Itzulia Basque Country: Max Schachmann pulls out ITT win over João Almeida 

Some words from Schachmann about the fourth Itzulia stage win of his career and his first since the Sibiu Tour of 2023. It's also his first World Tour victory since taking Paris-Nice overall for a second time back in 2021. As the Spanish like to say, it's rained since then.
"I'm very happy, the Basque Country seems to be a good place for me, I've scored the majority of my wins here. It's beautiful to be back in the leader's jersey here."
"I'm overwhelmed it's been a long time since I won a WorldTour race and I'm very thankful my QuickStep team believed in me. It was very close two times [with Almeida and Lipowitz at less than a second - Ed.] and of course I had a bit of luck but in the end I made it."

As Shachmann also points out, Soudal-QuickStep have three riders in the top ten on the stage, with Ethan Hayter in fourth and Ilan van Wilder in sixth, which sets them up very nicely for the week.

Unsurprisingly with such a good collective result, Soudal-QuickStep have also won the teams prize for the day, but hopefully Schachmann's brought a big suitcase with him  to the Basque Country because he is taking away whatever trophies he gets for the stage win, plus the leader's jersey, the points leader's jersey and the mountains leader's jersey. 

As for Tuesday's stage, here's what's coming up...

Stage 2 of Itzulia Basque Country is the one day that looks clearly to favour the fastmen. It runs from Pamplona to Lodosa and at 196.3 kilometres, is the longest of the entire race. There are a few small climbs late on, but nothing that should overly bother the bunch sprinters.

And here's a photo of the day's winner and first race leader on the podium.

That wraps things up for the live coverage of Itzulia's Basque Country's stage 1, but we'll be back with more live coverage of the race on Tuesday. We'll have more updates and reports from the race on our website over the course of the evening.