Tour of the Basque Country 2025: Double win Almeida in Markina-Xemein

foto: Cor VosJoão Almeida drops his rivals on the steep final climb of stage 4 of the Itzulia Basque Country. He crests the top with a half-minute lead and manages to hold onto it during the descent to the finish. The Portuguese thus claims the stage win and the leader's jersey. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 4th stage 2025 Tour of the Basque Country

1. João Almeida (por)
2. Isaac del Toro (mex) + 0.28
3. Maximilian Schachmann (ger) s.t.
4. Clément Champoussin (fra) s.t.
5. Alex Aranburu (spa) s.t.
6. Clément Berthet (fra) s.t.
6. Simone Velasco (ita) s.t.
7. Oscar Onley (gbr) s.t.
8. Ilan Van Wilder (bel) s.t.
9. Guillaume Martin (fra) s.t.

GC after stage 4
1. João Almeida (por)
2. Maximilian Schachmann (ger) + 0.30
3. Florian Lipowitz (ger) + 0.38
4. Ilan Van Wilder (bel) + 0.49
5. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 0.50
6. Wilco Kelderman (nld) + 1.11
7. Alex Aranuburu (spa) + 1.37
8. Enric Mas (spa) + 1.48
9. Steff Cras (bel) + 2.15
10. Simone Velasco (ita) + 2.18

Race report
After an attack by Julian Alaphilippe, Thibault Guernalec, Juri Hollmann, and Mauro Schmid, the peloton comes back together on the first climb of the day. Schmid tries again later, this time with Ben Healy, before Quinn Simmons bridges across to them.

The trio opens up a 1-minute lead, while Marc Soler, Andrea Bagioli, Alex Baudin, Sepp Kuss, Léo Bisiaux, and Finn Fisher-Black set off in pursuit. The six bridge the gap and the leaders race to a 2-minute lead.

As the peloton regroups ahead of the final climb, Santiago Buitrago is the first to break clear on the steep ramps. João Almeida follows, and then leaves the Colombian behind. The Portuguese rider reaches the summit 33 seconds ahead of the first chasers, where yellow jersey Maximilian Schachmann has been dropped. On the descent, the German regains contact.

In the meantime, Almeida flies to victory. With the stage win, he moves into first place. Former leader Schachmann finishes third, now 30 seconds behind on GC, while Florian Lipowitz is a further 8 seconds back in third.

Another interesting read: route 4th stage 2025 Tour of the Basque Country.