Fresh off a historic stage victory at the Vuelta España Femenina, Human Powered Health is keen to continue the momentum, heading to the Basque Country in Spain for Itzulia Women from May 15 through 17.
A compact Women’s WorldTour race over three days, there’s no room to hide on an unrelenting, punchy parcours full of repeated climbing efforts. With the GC battle raging on every stage, consistency and ability will reward those with the staying power to match the route.
After her win atop L’Angliru, Petra Stiasny lines up alongside fifth-placed finisher in 2025, Thalita de Jong. They are joined by Marit Raaijmakers, who also raced La Vuelta, Nina Buijsman, Mona Mitterwallner and home rider Yurani Blanco.
Itzulia Women Stage by Stage
5/15
Stage 1
Route: Zarautz – Zarautz
Distance: 121.3 km
Parcours: Medium Mountains
Look out for: Six categorized climbs to whittle down the race
What matters: Being able to sustain repeated efforts to be able to compete in the front group in Zarautz
Itzulia begins with a stage that packs in the most amount of climbing of the long weekend. 2,539 meters of vertical gain to be exact. The first stage will already make a huge impact on the GC, with the opener already likely to create gaps. The final climb at Garate comes inside the last ten kilometers. 4.6 km at 4.8% with a final stretch at 8%, it is the ideal launchpad for a solo winner.
5/16
Stage 2
Route: Abadiño – Amorebieta-Etxano
Distance: 138 km
Parcours: Medium Mountains
Look out for: A finishing sequence of climbs to break the race apart
What matters: Staying in contention on the final uncategorized test. One kilometer at 6.1%, followed by a short plateau and then 770 meters at 5.3%
Climbing legs will need to be ready and firing on stage 2 as we begin with the 7.2 km at 3.7% ascent of Trabakau right away. After that, a washboard rolling parcours takes the peloton to the categorized San Pelaio and Aretxabalgane climb before an uncategorized hill tops out eight kilometers from the line. Even without a summit finish, this is another key day for the GC battle.
5/17
Stage 3
Route: San Sebastián – San Sebastián
Distance: 131.1 km
Parcours: Medium Mountains
Look out for: Two sprint bonuses in the valley between the Jaizkibel and Mendizorrotz climbs
What matters: If you miss the move over the Mendizorrotz, staying in a chasing group and leaving enough in reserve for the sprint
This route is the traditional end of Itzulia and in its four previous editions, has always crowned a solo stage winner who has then gone on to win overall. This is due in part to the Mendizorrotz climb, which tops out with 12 km to race. 6.4 km at 5.3%, with the first 4.6 km at 6.5%, it is the perfect launchpad. History also shows that there’s always been a chasing group of around ten competing for the podium positions behind.
How to watch
USA
FloBikes from 6:20 am EDT / 5:20 am CDT / 4:20 am MDT / 3:20 am PDT each day
Canada
FloBikes
Europe
Eurosport/Discovery+/HBO Max (territory dependent) from 12:20 CET each day
UK
HBO Max/TNT Sports from 11:20 GMT each day
Times correct as of the date of publication
What our athletes think
Petra Stiasny
I’m definitely looking forward to Itzulia. I love Spain. My Spanish teacher always tells me, “Yeah, you’re racing at home,” because he knows how much Spain means to me and how much I like it. I especially like the Basque Country; I absolutely love it. The people here are amazing, and the cycling culture is really nice. I’m actually really looking forward to the race, also with the other girls. I think, yeah, we have a pretty strong team here, and let’s see what we can do.
Thalita de Jong
I really like this race. In the last two years, I showed some good results over here and was racing with a lot of fun. I did altitude tent training before the race. I just came out of the tent, and I don’t know how the body will react. This was preparation towards the Giro, and Ituzlia is now a good race for intensity training. So we need to see it day by day. We just want to see how the altitude will react to my body, and that’s how it is in this situation right now. I trained hard but not periodically towards Itzulia, so my body can be tired. Let’s see how it goes. The stages are damm hard, especially day one and day two. They make it tougher every year, and it was already hard enough the last few years. Hopefully, the weather gods will spare us a bit in the cold early morning races, and we can race safely on the soaked roads.
Photos: GettySport, Itzulia Women
