News | Itzulia Basque Country | Team • April 10, 2025
Almeida conquers steep slopes to win Itzulia Basque Country stage 4
After going close on stages 1 and 3, João Almeida reigned supreme on stage 4 at Itzulia Basque Country, winning alone and taking the lead of the race
Stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country was an excellent affair for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who not only claimed the stage victory and lead of the race through João Almeida, but also placed second on the day with Isaac del Toro and grabbed the King of the Mountains jersey through Marc Soler. Conquering the seventh and final categorised climb of a brutal stage, Almeida powered away from his rivals and rode alone to the finish in Markina-Xemein.
With his teammate Soler up the road in the day’s breakaway, Almeida could bide his time in the peloton and wait for the perfect moment to attack, having begun the day only four seconds down on race leader Max Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step). Once Soler had taken enough KOM points to ride into that jersey out front, the peloton approached the breakaway and at the foot of the final climb, it was all to play for.
As the only category 1 test of the day, the final climb cast an imposing figure over the day’s action. Standing at 9.6% for 3.5km, the Izua saw Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) make an initial move before Almeida came to the fore and dropped a stage-winning attack. Cresting the climb with a 30-second advantage, the Portuguese was able to descend to the finish line alone and seal UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s 25th victory of the campaign.
Prior to Almeida’s stage-winning exploits, the day had belonged to teammate Soler, who was on the front foot throughout. After the flag had been dropped in Beasain, the Spaniard was forever on the prowl for an opportunity to claim much-vaunted points in the King of the Mountains classification.
At first, Soler sought his fortune from the peloton, winning the KOM sprint over the first categorised climb after 44.2km. But with this obstacle out of the way, Soler used the second categorised climb to work his way into the breakaway and establish himself as part of its number. With the likes of Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) also in the move, it was soon clear that this breakaway would come to define much of the day.
Over the next four categorised climbs, Soler led the breakaway over the summit each and every time, taking 12 KOM points over the course of the afternoon. With this haul, the Spaniard moves up three places in the classification and now takes a hold of the jersey heading into stage 5. In fact, thanks to the efforts of Brandon McNulty and teammate Almeida through the week, all three UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders sit within the top five in the classification.
With his eyes set on a larger prize, however, Almeida presented himself towards the fore of the peloton as they caught the break at the foot of the final climb. Ramping up to 20% in parts, the Izua climb was a straight-up brute, with the potential to turn the GC on its head. As such, the Portuguese stuck to his own pace as Buitrago made an initial attack for Bahrain Victorious. Little by little, as the sprightly climber was reined in, Almeida nudged his way up the group of favourites and with 2.5km of the climb to go, the 26-year-old made his acceleration.
At first, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) and Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) were able to follow the wheel, but before long Almeida was alone and in pursuit of a second victory of the season. Powering away as the climb refused to relent, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man crested the climb with a 30-second advantage and with a little over 10km to descend to the finish line.
Maintaining his gap to the finish, where teammate Del Toro out-sprinted their rivals to sweep up second place, Almeida did enough to not only win stage 4, but also claim the lead of the race. In doing so, he becomes the first Portuguese rider in history to lead Itzulia Basque Country, whilst he also tops the points jersey classification heading into Friday.
Speaking to the awaiting press after the longest solo victory of his career to date, Almeida reflected on a perfect day for his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad.
Almeida: “It was a good day. I wasn’t feeling great to be honest but I did my race. The team was amazing once again, I think we deserve it.
“They have been really hard days and we are happy to take the win after two close days. It was good to win again. The plan was to do the best in the last climb and try to go solo. It went perfectly actually so we are happy.
“We also have the team to control. There are two days to go, they are really hard, so we need to keep the focus and do our best day by day.”
Itzulia Basque Country stage 4 result:
1. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:52:29
2. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +28″
3. Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t
Itzulia Basque Country general classification after stage 4:
1. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 12:10:20
2. Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) +30″
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +38″
