Favorites stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country 2025 | Basque hills perfect for Thibau Nys

One day with a time trial and one day with a sprint, but day three of the Tour of the Basque Country is one for the climbers. It goes up and down all day, with the finish at the end of an incredibly steep climb. IDLProCycling.com gives you a detailed preview of the favorites for the stage victory.

Route stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country 2025

It is a matter of counting red circles, piece by piece, all categorized climbs. We count five category 3 and two category two climbs. This is a day of more than 3000 meters of elevation gain, and thus, one that will take its toll on the legs. The Lazkaomendi ends the stage, a terrible climb of 1.4 kilometers at an average of 9.7 percent. But that is only the average because we peak at stretches of up to 18 percent.

It will undoubtedly be a lot if you include such a climb after 100 kilometers of flat terrain. But the six climbs before the Lazkaomendi will make it a challenging ordeal. The Alkiza is 4 kilometers at 6.6 percent, followed by Santa Ageda, which is a serious mountain pass at 9 kilometers at 6.9 percent. After that, the second to last climb is worth mentioning: the Gainza, 2.2 kilometers at 12.1 (!) percent average. Wow!

Check below the steep final climb:

Times
Start: 1:35 PM local time (07:35 AM EDT)
Finish: approx. 5:30 PM local time (11:30 AM EDT)

Weather Stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country 2025

We start on the coast from Zarautz, with temperatures above 20 degrees and a force 2 wind from the north. Then we go inland, and the apparent temperature rises to 25 degrees. Those conditions also exist at the finish line in Beadain.

Favorites Stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country 2025

Climbers? Maybe. Punchers? Probably more realistic. And preferably with a final shot. That brings us to Thibau Nys, who will be given a course that suits him after winning a race similar to the GP Miguel Indurain. The young Belgian from Lidl-Trek also has Mattias Skjelmose on his team, but surely he won't stand in the way of a possible stage victory?

The challengers will primarily be found in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG. João Almeida and Isaac Del Toro were up to the challenge in the time trial and seem to be the men to beat for the GC. Finishing such a race after a long descent may be more suited to Almeida, although he is not a finisher. For that, we move on to INEOS Grenadiers, where we are very curious to see what Frenchman Axel Laurance can do in a final that serves as a warm-up for the Ardennes classics.

Axel Laurance

After mentioning Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) as home riders and good descenders, we come across some nice names at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Victor Lafay is on one side and has already won a Tour stage in the Basque Country. At Red Bull, Florian Lipowitz, Daniel Felipe Martínez, and Aleksandr Vlasov can all handle this work as leaders, but we are mainly looking at the explosive Maxim Van Gils.

Are there more men who can withstand such a steep finale? Enric Mas (Movistar), Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), and the duo of Ben Healy and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) would have preferred the finish to be uphill, but riders like Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), GC leader Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal-Quick Step) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor) will of course be able to finish the race strongly. We also wonder how Jayco-AlUla duo Alan Hatherly, Mauro Schmid, and Clément Champoussin at XDS-Astana will perform.

Favorites Stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country 2025, according to IDLProCycling.com

Top favorites: Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor)
Outsiders: Axel Laurance (INEOS), João Almeida (UAE), Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis)
Long shots: Enric Mas (Movistar), Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), Ben Healy and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal-Quick Step), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Clément Champoussin (XDS-Astana).

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])     

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