Place Name: Paseo La Inmaculada
Address: Paseo La Inmaculada 68, 31200 Estella-Lizarra, Navarre, Spain
Details: April 5, 2025
There is a stacked list of climbing talent for the start of the 204KM Gran Premio Miguel Indurain including defending champion Brandon McNulty. A total 3,400M of elevation gain is taken on over the constantly undulating parcours through Navarre which makes this a great tune-up race for Itzulia Basque Country which starts on Monday. None of the climbs are longer than 4KM but the repetitive nature will surely be selective by the end of the day. The steep 11% climb of the Alto de Ibarra is taken on four times in total with two ascents coming in the last 25KM, the last of which tops out just 1.5KM before the finish in Estella-Lizarra.
After a few of the early climbs, eight riders got away including Edoardo Zamperini of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Jesús Herrada of Cofidis, Anthon Charmig of XDS-Astana, Jambaljamts Sainbayar of Burgo-Burpellet BH, Mikel Bizkarra of Euskatel-Euskadi, Alan Jousseaume of TotalEnergies, Harrison Wood of Anicolor-Tien 21, and Gonzalo Ariño of Illes Balears Arabay. Equipo Kern Pharma were working behind with help from Redbull-Broa Hansgrohe and had the break around 5 minutes with 72KM to go. Jayco AlUla took over the pace setting with Chris Juul Jensen on the Alto de Guirguillano and had the gap down to just over 3 minutes over the top with 61KM to go.
The break started the Alto de Lezaun with 51KM to go with just 2 minute 20 seconds. The race continued as status-quo until 32KM to go when speed ramped up in the bunch on the Alto de Muru. UAE-XRG came to the front to take position on the front before the descent and the steep kicker of Alto de Ibarra. Charmig attacked the break on the climb and went over the top alone with Herrada and Jousseaume fighting to get back on. Igor Arrieta of UAE-XRG made the first move from the bunch, at the same place Charmig did on the Alto de Ibarra, and was followed by Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla.
Riders were spread across the road as Charmig went through the finish line with 27.5KM to go. Herrada and Jousseaume came together as group two on the road with a third group of around 10 that split off from the peloton, 43 seconds behind. Group three, which included Arrieta and Schmid, were being towed along by Arkéa-B&B Hotels for Kévin Vauquelin but UAE-XRG were heavily represented with at least three riders. The race was closing in and, with 24KM to go, Herrada and Jousseaume caught Charmig to make three at the front and the group containing Vauquelin were caught by the rest of the peloton and were just 25 seconds behind the leaders.
José Manuel Díaz of Burgos-Burpellet BH chipped off the front on a false flat section with 23KM to go. He was caught a few kilometers later as were Herrada, Jousseaume, and Charmig. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe kept a lid on things up the Alto de Eraul with Dani Martinez setting a pace that no one could attack from. Martinez pulled off with 900M to climb, 10.5KM from the finish, and Ion Izagirre of Cofidis went to the front to take on the technical descent in the lead. There were a few crashes on the descent including Izaguirre whose rear tire went flat, sending him into the ditch on the side of the road.
By the bottom, there were seven riders at the front but a larger group of around 25 riders caught them at 7KM from the line. Alex Molenaar of Caja Rural Seguros RGA, Mattéo Vercher of TotalEnergies, Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG, and Bauke Mollema of Lidl-Trek got away on the rolling main road and started the final climb with 2.2KM to go with a gap of 10 seconds. Vercher led the way up the climb but Andrea Bagioli of Lidl-Trek was leading out Thibau Nys from the chase group behind. Nys shot off like a rocket through the chase group and right passed Vercher. He went over the top and took all of the risks on the downhill to maintain his lead. Nys took the final corner at 250M with plenty of time to sit up and salute the crowd, crossing the line for his first win on his first day of road racing for the season. Molenaar did an impressive ride and held on for second place, beating Bagioli into third place in a two up sprint.
Tags: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, 2025, April, Estella-Lizarra, Edoardo Zamperini, Jesús Herrada, Anthon Charmig, Jambaljamts Sainbayar, Mikel Bizkarra, Alan Jousseaume, Harrison Wood, Gonzalo Ariño, Chris Juul Jensen, Igor Arrieta, Mauro Schmid, José Manuel Díaz, Dani Martinez, Ion Izagirre, Alex Molenaar, Mattéo Vercher, Felix Großschartner, Bauke Mollema, Andrea Bagioli, Thibau Nys