Tour of the Basque Country 2026: Aranburu wins from breakaway, Seixas extends lead

fotobureau Cor VosFrom a huge breakaway group, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Alex Aranburu emerge on the final of eight climbs. The Basque tries to shake off the Norwegian, but fails. No problem. He gets the job done in a spectacular finale, in which Paul Seixas puts another 20 seconds into his GC challengers. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 4 Results – 2026 Tour of the Basque Country

1. Alex Aranburu (spa) 3:55:15
2. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) + 0:04
3. Christian Scaroni (ita) + 0:06
4. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 0:07
5. Guillaume Martin (fra) + 0:13
6. Pello Bilbao (spa) + 0:14
7. Juan Pedro López (spa) s.t.
8. Paul Seixas (fra) s.t.
9. Lorenzo Fortunato (ita) + 0:17
10. Igor Arrieta (spa) + 0:24

GC after stage 4

1. Paul Seixas (fra)
2. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 2:19
3. Florian Lipowitz (ger) + 2:28
4. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 2:29
5. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 2:34
6. Ben Tulett (gbr) + 2:47
7. Alex Baudin (fra) + 2:51
8. Harold Tejada (col) + 3:08
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (bel) + 3:21
10. Clément Champoussin (fra) + 3:22

Race report
After 30 kilometres, the battle for a place in the breakaway is still raging when Andreas Kron, Julian Alaphilippe and Adrià Pericas decide to take their chance. On the climb to San Pelaio they are joined by Marc Soler, Raúl García Pierna and Christian Scaroni, but the peloton is breathing down their necks, and they are caught in the descent.

The situation remains unchanged while cresting the Jata, and then Brandon McNulty gives it a ago. On the Unbe, the American extends his lead over the peloton to 2 minutes. Yet, 33 riders sense an opportunity and they set off in pursuit.

The chasers’ smallest deficit is initially 50 seconds, but later the lone leader puts more than 2 minutes into them. By that point, the peloton is over 4 minutes behind.

In the final 50 kilometres, McNulty’s lead begins to shrink, and with just over 35 kilometres to go the chasers reel him in. The peloton is at that point lnearly 2 minutes behind.

On the penultimate climb, Mauri Vansevenant, Lorenzo Fortunato, Christian Scaroni, Guillaume Martin, Clément Braz Afonso, Marc Soler, Quinn Simmons, Magnus Cort, Juan Pedro López, Victor Langelotti, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Luke Stockwell, Emiel Verstrynge and Alex Aranburu remain at the front.

On the descent, Marc Soler, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Luke Stockwell break away, while the Norwegian jumps clear with 15 kilometres remaining.

On the Legina, López, Scaroni, Aranburu and the other Halland Johannessen catch the soloist before Aranburu jumps clear with 1.2 kilometres to climb. Tobias Halland Johannessen catches him before the summit, but on the descent the Basque slips away.

The two come together again with 4 kilometres left to race. Meanwhile, overall leader Paul Seixas pulls away from his rivals in the background, taking Ion Izagirre with him.

In the uphill final kilometres, plenty happens. Scaroni claws his way back in contention, while Izagirre drops Seixas to bridge across to the leaders. He immediately attacks, providing a sort of lead-out for his teammate Aranburu, bu tagging along Halland Johannessen as well. Ultimately, the Basque jumps clear from the Norwegian’s wheel and wins the stage by a few bike lengths.

Seixas crosses the line in eighth, gaining another 20 seconds on his main rivals for the overall victory. The only rider he doesn’t gain time on is Izagirre, who finishes fourth and moves up to fourth place in the general classification, just 1 second behind Florian Lipowitz.

Another interesting read: route 4th stage 2026 Tour of the Basque Country.