2026 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 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
After crushing the whole field in the race-opening time trial in Bilbao yesterday, Paul Seixas (DCT) repeated the treatment on first road stage, finishing almost 90 seconds ahead of his GC rivals, who were led in by Mattias Skjelmose (LTK), just ahead of Primož Roglič (RBH) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (MOV).
The victory boosted the young Frenchman's overall lead to a second shy of two minutes on Roglič, whose teammate Florian Lipowitz (RBH) is another 9 seconds back.
The consensus among the big hitters was that this was the toughest stage of the race, primarily because of the inclusion of the 1st-category San Miguel de Aralar climb right before the final short rise to the finish.
Approaching this critical hurdle, a 7-rider breakaway was 1'30" ahead of the peloton, but that lead rapidly evaporated. Seixas's Decathlon teammates set a blistering tempo up the initial ramps, Jordan Labrosse and Nicolas Prodhomme the most prominent of them.
With more than half of the 10km climb to go and 26km remaining to the finish, Seixas decided the best form of defence was to attack. He surged away, Skjelmose the only rider able to follow, although the Dane yielded after a few painful seconds on the teenager's wheel. Soon after, the Frenchman breezed past the breakaways and led on his own.
Lipowitz took up the chase alone and was then joined by most of the GC hopefuls, but they could nothing to put a brake on Seixas's advantage, let alone bring him back. He crossed the climb 50 seconds clear, swept down to the foot of the final short ascent, swerving around a prone spectator who'd been in a collision with a motorbike before he started climbing again.
He crossed the line 1'25" ahead of a very elite group of chasers, his status as the strongest rider in this race underlined in unmistakeable fashion.
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