2026 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2026 Itzulia Basque Country is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Paul Seixas (DCT) came to Itzulia Basque Country with his sights set on a first win at WorldTour level and the 19-year-old Frenchman achieved that feat on the very first day with a dominating performance in the 13.9km time trial in Bilbao. Seixas finished 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Kévin Vauquelin (IGD), with Felix Grossschartner (UAD) another four seconds back in third place, the Austrian a second clear of Primož Roglič (RBH), who won on this same course five years ago.
Roglič opted for an early time and he set the first mark for the other GC favorites to shoot at. Seixas had also decided to tackle the course quite early in the afternoon and set the fastest time at the first intermediate check point at the top of the 2.4km tackled straight from the start ramp.
Seixas was quickest too at the second check a couple of rolling kilometers further on and caught two of the riders who had started the time trial before him as he shot up the brutal final ramp to the finish, its steepest section touching 19%.
The teenager then had a long wait to see how the rest of his rivals would fare as the wind strengthened on the brutal course. Vauquelin came closest to threatening Seixas, but was still a good distance back. It appeared that Juan Ayuso (LTK) and Isaac Del Toro (UAD) would be bigger threats, but the Spaniard and the Mexican were already out of the running at the top of the first climb. Ayuso eventually lost well over a minute, Del Toro 50 seconds.
Seixas's win was the first for a French rider in a WorldTour TT race since Rémi Cavagna at the Tour of Poland in 2021. Much more astonishingly, it made him the youngest ever stage winner in this race, 18 months younger than Gino Bartali was when the legendary Italian was victorious in 1935.
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