2026 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 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
And then there were three, stage wins that is for Paul Seixas (DCT), who bagged his latest victory by outsprinting main GC rival Florian Lipowitz (RBH) at the end of a 8-climb race into Eibar. Javier Romo (MOV) took third place with a late attack from a chase group that came in more than a minute behind Seixas and Lipowitz.
The GC battle lit up on the fifth climb of the day, the wickedly steep cat 1 Krabelin. The remains of what had been a very big breakaway group led onto the climb, but the big hitters had closed down a gap that had been as wide as 5 minutes and were about to make contact.
Lipowitz made the first thrust, Seixas the only rider able to follow the German initially. Nearing the top of the Krabelin, most of the other GC contenders bridged back up to this pair, this group crossing the summit 15 seconds behind lone leader Kévin Vauquelin (IGD). The two main absentees were 5th-placed Mattias Skjelmose (LTK) and 6th-placed Ben Tulett (TVL), who never regained contact.
Vauquelin was soon reeled in and a group of 22 formed at the front. Marc Soler (UAD) and Ben Healy (EFE) slipped away from it between climbs and built a 40-second lead, but that gap evaporated on the next 1st-cat hill, the Izua. Seixas accelerated almost as soon as it began to ramp up, taking a small group past Soler and then Healy. As he continued to press, Lipowitz was the only one able to stay on his wheel.
Approaching the summit, Romo made a superb effort to bridge up to the two leaders, only to be knocked off his bike by an over-eager fan just as he made the junction. The Spaniard picked up the pursuit again with Primož Roglič (RBH), but these two steadily lost ground and were reeled in by the other GC contenders.
Lipowitz took the lead coming into Eibar, held the front position through a tricky chicane 350 meters out from the line and opened up his sprint as soon as they hit the final straight. Seixas wasn't in any mood for gifts, however. He powered by the German to complete a hat-trick of victories in five days. The overall title is now just one very tricky stage away from him.
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