Tour of the Basque Country 2026: GC Favourites

fotobureau Cor VosThe start list of the Tour of the Basque Country is packed with super talents. Seixas, Ayuso, Del Toro… With a challenging route featuring numerous punchy finishes, and in the absence of absolute superstars such as Pogacar and Vingegaard, we can look forward to an exciting six-day race. Who are the contenders for the overall victory?

Published on 6 April 2026

Among the GC contenders, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso have already tasted victory this season. The Mexican was the best in the UAE Tour and Tirreno–Adriatico, while Ayuso won the Volta ao Algarve. In a thrilling battle, the Spaniard held off Paul Seixas in Portugal. He then went on to a strong start in Paris–Nice, but a crash forced him to abandon the Race to the Sun while leading the general classification.

Florian Lipowitz, Antonio Tiberi and Paul Seixas have also claimed podium finishes this season. The German finished third in the Volta a Catalunya, behind Jonas Vingegaard and Lenny Martinez, while the Italian was runner-up in the UAE Tour. And, as mentioned, Seixas finished second in the Algarve behind Ayuso.

Key stages: 1, 2, 5 and 6

The battle for the general classification kicks off on day one, as the opening stage is an individual time trial featuring two punchy climbs: the first straight from the start and the second to the finish – 2.4 kilometres at 7.3% and 470 metres at 9.2%, respectively.

Stage 2 serves up the highest elevation gain of the six-day race. After four climbs along the way, the final kilometre rises at 8%, making it ideal for punchy climbers.

After two stages in which the GC contenders must already be on their toes – both demanding hilly races – the real blockbuster follows on Saturday. Interestingly, the finish is not uphill, but with so many tough climbs along the route, stage 5 will certainly reveal who is in contention for the overall victory. In fact, with nearly 3,900 metres of elevation gain, the overall winner could already be decided on the finish line in Eibar.

But let’s hope the final decision comes on the final day. The riders then face a compact stage of 135.4 kilometres with almost 3,000 metres of climbing. Remarkably, five of the six climbs come within the first 100 kilometres, so anyone looking to shake things up in the Basque Country would do well to start early!

Three former winners line up in Bilbao: Juan Ayuso (2024), Primoz Roglic (2021, 2018) and Ion Izagirre (2019)

Favourites 2026 Tour of the Basque Country

**** Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro, Juan Ayuso
*** Florian Lipowitz, Primoz Roglic, Ben Healy
** Tobias Halland Johannessen, Brandon McNulty, Kévin Vauquelin
* Matthew Riccitello, Antonio Tiberi, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Mattias Skjelmose