Alex Aranburu took stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country 2026 with a sharp uphill finish in Galdakao, beating Tobias Halland Johannessen after one of the most aggressive stages of the week. Christian Scaroni finished third, while Paul Seixas once again came through the key moments well and added more time to several of his closest general classification rivals.
Aranburu got the timing right on home roads
Stage 4 covered 167km and never really settled. Brandon McNulty animated the race with a long solo move, but the finale became a fight between a reduced front group rather than a clean breakaway success. Aranburu and Johannessen emerged at the front late on, and Aranburu judged the final uphill run better, coming around Johannessen to take the win. Scaroni then led home the next riders behind them.
It was a particularly well-read finish from Aranburu. He did not need the biggest acceleration of the day from distance, just the right one at the right moment. On a stage that kept changing shape, that composure mattered more than brute force in the final few hundred metres.
Seixas won the bigger battle again
Aranburu won the stage, but Seixas still left Galdakao as one of the day’s main winners. The Decathlon-CMA CGM rider finished eighth and extended his overall lead by taking more time out of Primož Roglič and Florian Lipowitz. That was the key development for the general classification.
What keeps standing out with Seixas is how calm he looks when the race turns chaotic. Stage 4 was full of attacks, splits and changing combinations, yet he stayed close to the right riders and came through another hard day with his lead in even better shape than before.
Johannessen, Scaroni and Cofidis all came away with something
Johannessen was strong enough to make the decisive selection and close enough to the win to feel he had a real chance. Scaroni also continued a very solid week with third place, while Cofidis had even more to show for the day through Ion Izagirre, who finished fourth.
That gave the stage a broader Cofidis stamp than just the winner’s sprint. Aranburu delivered the result, but the team had strength across the finale and used it well on terrain that demanded patience as much as aggression.
Another setback for Ayuso
One of the most significant non-result stories from the stage was Juan Ayuso abandoning the race with stomach issues. He had already been on the back foot after his time loss in the opening stage and never looked fully settled in this edition of Itzulia. Stage 4 brought that campaign to an end.
What stage 4 meant
Stage 4 did not blow the race apart in one move, but it did reinforce the main pattern of the week. Aranburu took a deserved stage win on local roads, while Seixas once again handled the bigger picture better than most around him. With the race moving deeper into its decisive phase, that combination of legs and judgement was becoming increasingly hard for anyone else to overturn.
Itzulia Basque Country 2026 stage 4 results
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
