Following yesterday’s mountainous stage 3, which culminated in a controversial stage finish where Basque rider Alex Aranburu soloed to victory for Team Cofidis, the organizers of Itzulia Basque Country 2025 had designed today’s stage 4 as a battle in mountain terrain, where the general classification stars would again be able to shine on the roads of the Basque country.

Stage 4 would be contested on a 169.6-kilometer route from Beasain to Markina Xemein in the north of the Basque Country. The stage profile included six Category Three climbs, and the action was expected to culminate on the Category One Izua climb in the final twenty kilometers of the stage. 

Maximillian Schachmann remained general classification leader in Itzulia Basque Country 2025 (Tour of the Basque Country) before stage 4. Florian Lipowitz had advanced to second place for Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe, while Joao Almeida had dropped to third place for UAE Team Emirates.

Several breakaway attempts were launched in the first part of stage 4, but it took a while before a more viable breakaway would be established. 

Having joined Tudor Pro Cycling Team before this season, Julian Alaphilippe launched a powerful attack effort and was joined by Simon Guglielmi (Arkea B & B Hotels), Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Mauro Schmid of Team Jayco-Alula.

The front quartet built a lead of approximately one minute. Later, the speed in the main peloton was increased on the Asentzio climb, resulting in the advantage of the breakaway group to be reduced to fifteen seconds with 135 kilometers remaining.

Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Harold Tejada, and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) launched a counterattack from the main peloton on the Asentzio and joined Alaphilippe and the rest of the front quartet. The speed in the main peloton, however, was too fast for the frontmen and they were reeled in shortly thereafter. Marc Soler won the KOM sprint ahead of Bruno Armirail and Daniel Felipe Martinez.

A three-man group had established a breakaway when one hundred kilometers remained of stage 4. The group featured Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) and had a lead of fifty seconds at this point in the stage.

Many teams and riders were very active in the stage and, therefore, additional attacks were launched from the main peloton.

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon-AG2R) tried their luck and were hoping to bridge the gap to the front trio. The group succeeded and merged with the front trio. Their advantage was now 01:10 minutes with 94 kilometers remaining.

Four Category Three climbs and one Category One climb remained on today’s stage route, so much could still change.

The eleven men in the front group cooperated well and had increased their advantage over the main peloton to 01:50 minutes when 55 kilometers remained. The remaining part of the stage included one Category Three climb and the feared Izua climb (Category One). 

Riders from Bahrain Victorious and Soudal-QuickStep were controlling the pace in the main peloton. They reduced the advantage of the front group to 01:24 minutes on the Merelludi climb.

Bahrain Victorious riders continued their hard work at the front of the main peloton, which caused the breakaway group to get caught with seventeen kilometers of the stage remaining.

Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) tried his luck when the riders reached the Izua climb, and Florian Lipowitz responded for Team Red Bull – Bora - Hansgrohe. They were caught shortly thereafter. 

Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was the next rider to attack on the climb. He created a small gap and now had Lipowitz and Clement Champoussin (Decathlon-AG2R) behind him in a chase group. Yesterday’s stage winner Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) joined the chasers. Almeida now had a lead of 39 seconds over the reduced main peloton with one kilometer of the climb remaining. The chase trio was 27 seconds back.

Portuguese Almeida reached the summit of the Izua climb in solo fashion. A fast and risky descent now awaited. Six fast kilometers were left before the finish line would be reached.

Joao Almeida showed great courage on the descent to the finish line in Markina-Xemein. The 26-year-old rider from UAE Team Emirates won stage 4 in solo fashion after having showed great initiative in the stage finale. He would also be taking the lead in the general classification following his impressive performance.

Almeida’s teammate Isaac del Toro finished second in the stage by winning a sprint from a small group. Maximilian Schachmann completed the stage podium for Soudal-QuickStep. Clement Champoussin finished fourth, while yesterday’s stage winner Alex Aranburu took fifth.

Joao Almeida is the new general classification leader before tomorrow’s stage 5, which will be a 172.3-kilometer ride through hilly terrain on a route from Urduna to Gernika-Lumo. Maximilian Schachmann is second, while Florian Lipowitz is in third place.

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