2026 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 6 Results & Recap
Stage 6 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
The young guns were firing on the final day of the 2026 Itzulia Basque Country. 20-year-old American Andrew August (IGD) took a hugely impressive first World Tour victory in very wet and dismal conditions after attacking from the breakaway group on the final climb. August finished alone to give his team their second stage win of the week following Axel Laurance's success on day three. RaĂșl GarcĂa Pierna (MOV) came in solo in second, while Frank van den Broek (TPP) outsprinted Gal Glivar (APT) for third place.
More than four minutes later, 19-year-old Paul Seixas (DCT) finished alongside his GC rivals to clinch the overall title, ending a French drought in WorldTour stage races that dated back to 2007. Underlining his dominance this week, the teenager also secured the points, mountains and best young rider competitions.
The action started on the first of six categorized climbs. Marc Soler (UAD), Mattias Skjelmose (LTK) and Ben Healy (EFE) went clear, while a big chasing group formed behind them, the highest placed rider Tobias Johannessen (UXM), who was more than five minutes behind Seixas on GC and two-and-a-half behind Florian Lipowitz in second place.
The three leaders remained pretty much undisturbed until well into the back end of the stage, although Juan Pedro LĂłpez (MOV) and Peter Ăxenberg Hansen (IGD) did manage to bridge up to them for a spell.
The GC battle came to life on the fourth climb, the cat 2 Elosua. Florian Lipowitz (RBH) began it with an attack on Seixas, who soon responded with a big attack of his own. After sprinting away, he quickly gained 20 seconds on his rivals, but still had 60km to cover into the finish with no teammates to support him.
Approaching the final climb, Soler dropped back from the lead group to help pace his teammates including the highly-placed Igor Arrieta in the chase group behind, which made contact with Skjelmose and Healy going onto the sixth and final climb.
Further back, Seixas, who had at one point eked out a lead of close to a minute on his rivals, was gradually reeled in by his pursuers nearing that same climb.
Back at the front, Ineos's August attacked early on the climb. GarcĂa Pierna was the only rider able to bridge up to him, but the Spaniard couldn't do any more than follow. A kilometer from the top, August glanced back, saw the Movistar man was struggling and surged away to finish alone.
Four minutes back, Seixas marked his closest rivals up and over that final climb, maintaining his 2:30 GC buffer on Lipowitz, who was second overall, but only three seconds ahead of Johannessen, who leapt eight places in the standings to take third, a great reward for the work his teammates had done for him.
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