Preview GP Miguel Indurain 2025 | Thibau Nys starts road competition in Spanish one-day race!

In this article:

2024 Brandon McNulty
2023 Ion Izagirre
2022 Warren Barguil

The GP Miguel Indurain is a tribute to the Spanish cycling legend, and of course, the course also meets his requirements. Indurain was the best climber, so a climbing course is also part of the program for the 34th edition. A total of 3,351 meters of altitude will be climbed over 203.9 kilometers, with the start and finish in Estella-Lizarra. However, the race will crisscross the region, with various loops and a real final circuit.

The first loop (or a return trip to Muruzabal) is 57 kilometers long and does not include categorized climbs. Nevertheless, it constantly goes up and down, and after we pass the finish line for the first time, we turn left towards Legaria. In that larger loop, the ascent of the Eraul is hidden for the first time: 3.9 kilometers at an average of 5.3 percent. It is the first encounter with the finale, which leads over the same roads to the finish over a two-stage, rocket-like climb-descent.

Before returning to the Eraul, we make a third, large loop in a northeasterly direction. Here, the riders tackle the Alto Guirguillano and Alto de Lezaun. Both climbs do not have a high average gradient, but they have incredibly steep sections and are irregular. After Lezaun, we descend to the third finish line before we make one more small loop over the Alto de Eraul and thus that difficult final.

Weather:
Although it will rain and there will be thunderstorms in the region in the days and nights before the race, the weather on Saturday will be nice. The riders will have to watch for wet roads, but the sun will shine during the day, and temperatures will reach 18 degrees. The west-northwest wind will hardly play a role.

Times:
Start: 06:10 AM EDT
Finish: around 11:30 AM EDT

The GP Miguel Indurain has never had the best line-up of the year, but some interesting names do turn up every year. 2025 will be no different. UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be competing with defending champion Brandon McNulty and will hope that Isaac Del Toro will once again have excellent legs. The young Spaniard Pablo Torres will also be competing.

The challengers for UAE are primarily in the Lidl-Trek race. We always mention Bauke Mollema for Spanish one-day races, but we are especially curious about Thibau Nys's season debut. After the cyclo-cross winter, the Belgian has prepared extensively for the road season and seems ready. Andrea Bagioli is also an interesting card for Lidl-Trek.

Continuing down the list, we come across Ben Healy at EF Education-EasyPost. The Irishman has already shown his strength this year, but a victory is still lacking. Can he strike on terrain that is perfect for him? At Cofidis, we wonder the same thing with home riders Jesús Herrada and Ion Izagirre, and what about the fast Alex Aranburu...

And that's not all, because Tudor is counting on Marc Hirschi, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is counting on Finn Fisher-Black and Daniel Felipe Martínez. Martínez, as for Nys, it will be his debut this year. Are there others? At Jayco-AlUla, we mention Mauro Schmid, and at Picnic-PostNL, we are curious about Oscar Onley!

Top favorites: Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek)
Outsiders: Marc Hirschi (Tudor), Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Long shots: Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Jesús Herrada and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) and Brandon McNulty (UAE)

The race will be broadcast live on Saturday from 09:00 AM EDT on Eurosport and online via HBO Max.

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