The 2025 Classic Grand Besançon Doubs saw Groupama FDJ’s Guillaume Martin attack early on Montfaucon to take his first win in three years

Classic Grand Besançon Doubs as usual attracted a strong field that included the biggest French teams, Spanish Pro Tour squads and even Visma Lease a Bike. The race delivered a tough day of European racing, ending with a summit finish on Montfaucon (3.79 km, 9.23%).

The final climb was a true test after nearly four hours of fatigue. Riders expended 3342 kilojoules over 3 hours and 56 minutes, averaging 13.71 kj/kg/h, a clear sign of how demanding the stage had been.

One of the race favourites, Jørgen Nordhagen, crashed before the action started, leaving Visma with Cian Uijtdebroeks as their number one option, who finished 32nd. Lenny Martinez’s 2024 time remained untouched, as he climbed it in 10:33 min with 7.33 ᵉW/kg. In 2025, it was another Frenchman from Groupama FDJ who attacked early on the climb and was uncatchable. Martin won his first race in three years with a performance of 7.06 ᵉW/kg for 10:51 min, which, by 2025 standards, is not that impressive at sea level.

All the riders in the Top 10 did 6.69 – 6.92 ᵉW/kg. Sebastian Berwick finished 14th with 6.53 ᵉW/kg, his best performance since winning on La Planche des Belles-Filles in the 2023 Tour Alsace, and was almost a minute faster than the best riders from Uno-X and Visma.

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Ben Healy put in a heroic effort from the breakaway on the final stage of Itzulia, but it was João Almeida who sealed the overall win with a composed performance on Arrate, backed by a dominant UAE Team Emirates.

It was the final stage of Itzulia, which usually delivers exciting action and unexpected turns, but not today, as UAE controlled everything and made the race very hard on the climbs. Oscar Onley burned 2718 kilojoules over 3 hours, averaging 15.48 kj/kg/h.

Ben Healy was in the breakaway and was by far the strongest rider, dropping Dani Martínez on Arrate and delivering the performance of the day, pushing 6.94 ᵉW/kg for 12:09 min. Meanwhile, in the GC group, Marc Soler and Isaac Del Toro set up João Almeida’s attack. Almeida distanced everyone except Enric Mas, producing 6.86 ᵉW/kg. Del Toro, Nys, Skjelmose, and Soler were not far behind, losing just 7 seconds to Almeida on the climb and bridging back shortly after.

They were nowhere near Jonas Vingegaard’s 2023 record, when the Dane climbed it in 11:21 min at 7.44 ᵉW/kg. Ayuso, too, was 26 seconds faster than Almeida last year, showing how hard the stage was today.

Despite Healy being clearly the strongest in the breakaway, he was caught by the GC riders and later dropped by Almeida and Mas. Skjelmose lost a potential podium place after crashing on a wet descent. Almeida finally defended his lead and secured a significant stage race victory, with Enric Mas collecting yet another second place in a Spanish WorldTour stage race.

Despite Alex Aranburu’s heroic efforts and seventh place in the GC, Cofidis still earned fewer points, with Simone Velasco and Clément Champoussin finishing ninth and eleventh overall.

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João Almeida blew the race apart on the brutal slopes of Izua – Arrate, dropping all his rivals with a powerful solo attack in Itzulia Basque Country stage 4.

Itzulia Basque Country this year was without superstars like Roglič, Evenepoel and Vingegaard after last year’s horrific crash, and featured a field with strong GC riders such as João Almeida and the UAE superteam, Mattias Skjelmose and Florian Lipowitz. The stage was tough. Oscar Onley burned 2,742 kilojoules over 3:28h, averaging 14.10 kj/kg/h before the decisive climb.

Izua–Arrate (3.35 km at 12.30%) was a perfect climb to launch an attack. A small breakaway formed with Sepp Kuss, Quinn Simmons, Marc Soler, Ben Healy and other strong riders, but they stood no chance against the Bahrain lead peloton before the steep ramps of Izua.

As the climb began, Bahrain Victorious went on the offensive with Pello Bilbao and Santiago Buitrago, but it didn’t work out. The steep gradients suited Almeida, who prefers to ride at a constant tempo. His strategy paid off as he distanced everyone and opened up a 30-second gap over the chasing group, which included all the key GC contenders in the race. Almeida produced 6.93 ᵉW/kg for 12:25 minutes on Izua, the best performance in a race missing the biggest GC names.

Almeida descended quickly and held his lead, winning by 28 seconds ahead of the GC group, where his teammate Isaac Del Toro took the bunch sprint. With UAE fielding by far the strongest team and Almeida being the biggest GC name in the race, they are clear favourites to hold the jersey until the end. Still, after the Portuguese rider narrowly missed out in Valenciana and other close races, anything can happen on Stage 6, which is typically full of chaos in Itzulia.

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In El Salvador, amidst the European classics race season, Petra Stiasny shone in a challenging mountain time-trial. Dominating a 9.1 km ascent up Calle El Volcán, she secured her first professional win

While the race season in Europe is currently in the classics race phase and Spanish stage races are still a month away, El Salvador hosted a mountain time-trial featuring World Tour teams Ceratizit and Roland, as well as Laboral Kutxa Pro Team, who are keen to collect UCI points in the Latin American races. The uphill time-trial took place on a challenging 9.1 km climb up Calle El Volcán, with an average gradient of 7.7%. With temperatures reaching 31°C, a tropical climate, and the mid-altitude of the climb at 1226 metres above sea level, conditions were tough for the competitors.

With the absence of renowned climbers at the start, the race did not see exceptional climbing performances. Lightweight climber Petra Stiasny dominated the event with a performance of 4.55 ᵉW/kg over 32:51 minutes, clinching her first professional victory. Given her weight of approximately 42 kilograms, the actual w/kg needed was closer to 5 w/kg, as calculations were standardised for everyone at 60 kg. Other top 5 riders Miermont, Coston, Harmann, and Biriukova produced efforts ranging from 4.41 to 4.45 ᵉW/kg.

On the Sea Level Power graph, Stiasny’s performance appears more impressive at 4.76 ᵉW/kg. The heat and climate conditions were challenging, as evidenced by Stiasny’s 9th place finish on the Jebel Hafeet stage, where she faced crosswinds and pushed similar watts but after significant fatigue. Usoa Ostolaza, who had a strong 2024 season with victories in climbing races and consistent top 10 finishes, could only manage 14th place.

All top 5 finishers hailed from Europe and European professional teams, while Latin American climbers failed to make a significant impact despite this being an opportunity to measure themselves against European professional climbers in their region. The El Salvador races will continue with a 5-day stage race and multiple one-day races aimed at farming UCI points.

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On Stage 4 of the 2025 Volta a Catalunya, Juan Ayuso launched an attack with UAE’s intense pacing, distancing his rivals on the Monestir de Montserrat climb. Primož Roglič, initially caught off guard, fought back and closed the gap, leading to a thrilling sprint finish between the two.

It was the second mountain stage in a row in Catalunya, featuring the Monestir de Montserrat climb (8.42 km, 6.78%). The climb was very regular and not steep enough to create huge gaps, with the average speed reaching over 26 km/h. Without UAE Emirates committing fully to pacing, it likely would have been a slow ascent with a large GC group bunch sprint at the end or a breakaway victory for Georg Steinhauser.

It was another hard and long day, with Emmanuel Buchmann expending 3,246 kilojoules over 4:03 hours at a rate of 13.10 kJ/kg/h. UAE fully committed to Ayuso, who was in superb shape, with Marc Soler and Adam Yates doing very hard pulls, reducing and stretching out the elite GC rider group. When Ayuso attacked with 2.6 km to go, he managed to distance everyone on the 7% gradient, while his main rival Roglič was far back in the group and was not close to the Spaniard’s wheel when the attack began. It took Roglič more than a minute to catch up to Ayuso, thanks to his great legs, compensating for a tactical error.

Both stars worked well together enough to avoid being caught by Landa, Mas, and the rest until 500 metres to go, when both stopped to cooperate. When Landa was almost on their wheel, Roglič decided to accelerate and lead out Ayuso to the finish line. However, in a very close sprint, the winner was the Slovenian. Mas and the others finished a few seconds behind, while in the GC, the gap to Roglič and Ayuso, thanks to bonus seconds, is over 20 seconds for their closest competitors, with one mountain stage remaining.

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With hard pacing by UAE, Ayuso and Roglič averaged 6.80 ᵉW/kg for 19:11 minutes. With more commitment, they could likely have reached close to 7 ᵉW/kg. Mas, Martínez, Landa, Van Eetvelt, and Gall averaged 6.73 ᵉW/kg. To show how high the level is, Burgos rider Mario Aparicio averaged 6.45 ᵉW/kg after a tough and long stage, finishing 23rd ahead of Ben O’Connor, Sepp Kuss, and Richard Carapaz.

Stage 3 of the 2025 Volta a Catalunya featured a challenging mountain finish at La Molina, where climbers like Marc Soler and Sepp Kuss made early attacks. Despite strong efforts from the attackers, Juan Ayuso emerged victorious, overtaking Primož Roglič in the final metres to take the race lead.

The 2025 Volta a Catalunya brings a stacked GC field, with Giro d’Italia’s biggest favourites Juan Ayuso and Primož Roglič. However, Jonas Vingegaard, who had planned to race, had to change his schedule after a crash and concussion at Paris-Nice. The first mountain stage took place in the North of Spain, finishing at La Molina (8.7 km, 6.4%). It is not the steepest climb, but attacks from Ben O’Connor and Miguel Ángel López have created gaps in the past, offering one of the few opportunities to win against the GC group that is not chasing full gas. The 2025 edition of La Molina was slightly different from previous ones, starting from a different road.

It was a hard and long race until the final climb, with Emmanuel Buchmann expending 4,404 kilojoules over 5:23 hours at 13.46 kJ/kg/h. UAE Emirates and Red Bull were keen to control the situation in the peloton, given that they had Roglič and Ayuso. With stacked teams, this meant that climbers like Adam Yates and Giulio Pellizzari needed to work as domestiques.

As usual, there were multiple attempts, with Marc Soler, Lorenzo Fortunato, and Sepp Kuss surviving until the top and gaining 10 seconds on the peloton with 3 km to go. Soler was pulling hardest of the three, holding 5.93 ᵉW/kg for 21:09 minutes at altitude. At sea level, this would equate to 6.26 ᵉW/kg. The peloton averaged 5.78 ᵉW/kg, but given the tough day beforehand, not every climber could sustain that pace. Miguel Ángel López from 2019 still holds the record for this climb, completing it in 19:38 minutes at 6.53 ᵉW/kg. A remarkable feat from a Colombian during the pre-2019 La Vuelta/Slovenian era.

In the end, Soler and the others were caught just before the finish, with Soler leading out his teammate Ayuso. Roglič, who has dominated these types of stages for a decade, initiated the sprint first but was considerate to Ayuso, leaving him space to sprint. Roglič briefly stopped his sprint, ultimately losing by a small margin. Ayuso was already the fastest in the GC group sprint at this finish in 2022 at the age of 19. He now becomes the race leader, aiming to win his third major one-week stage race within 12 months.

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The 2025 edition of Milano-Torino featured an outstanding performance from Johannessen and Ben Tulett, a record-breaking climb from Isaac Del Toro, and the 20th victory of the season for UAE Team Emirates.

For the first time since 2021, the traditional Milano-Torino route returned to the Basilica di Superga. The overall power levels in the peloton have increased significantly since 2021, when Mark Padun was among the world’s top climbers. As a result, climbing times and records were expected to be shattered despite the absence of big-name contenders. In 2021, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar used this race as a warm-up for Il Lombardia, but this edition featured a different lineup.

In 2021, Roglič won the race by climbing Superga in 13 minutes and 37 seconds with an estimated 7.05 ᵉW/kg. In 2025, that effort would have only been enough for a podium finish. Pogačar’s 14 minutes and 12 seconds from that year would not even have placed in the top 10. The race began at a relatively easy pace until the first ascent of Superga, which the peloton climbed in 12 minutes and 44 seconds at 6.5 ᵉW/kg. However, they did not go all the way to the top, as the course included another loop. Lorenzo Fortunato, riding in the peloton, burned 2,563 kilojoules over three hours and 39 minutes at a rate of 11.67 kj/kg/h, which was an easy effort.

Isaac Del Toro was the overwhelming favorite, with UAE Team Emirates providing strong support, including Adam Yates as his key climbing domestique. UAE controlled the pace up Superga, and with 1.3 kilometers to go, when Yates finished his pull, Del Toro attacked. Only Ben Tulett and Tobias Halland Johannessen could follow the Mexican’s move.

In the final kilometer, Johannessen launched an attack, with Tulett trying to close the gap while Del Toro sat on the Briton’s wheel. Tulett showed impressive form, but Del Toro secured the victory with a powerful finishing kick, setting a new Superga record. The UAE Emirates supertalent completed the climb in 13 minutes and 17 seconds at 7.21 ᵉW/kg. Tulett, returning to top form after injuries in 2024 and aiming for a strong contract year with Visma, climbed at 7.18 ᵉW/kg.

To finish in the top ten, riders had to produce at least 6.5 ᵉW/kg for nearly 13 minutes and then exceed 6.8 ᵉW/kg for 14 minutes. This highlighted the incredibly high level of competition, even without the superstar lineup seen in 2021.

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