The managing director of Euskadi Cycling Organizations OCETA, the body behind the region’s premier cycling events, spoke this Thursday about a long-discussed proposal to create a women’s Basque Country Tour, also known as Itzulia. He described the plan as something that nearly came to fruition, noting it had taken on the feel of a fashion trend before real momentum could build around it. The conversation touched on broader questions of equality, freedom, and the growing call for more opportunities in women’s sport, a trend that has reached the cycling world as well.
We almost had to organize it, the director said in an interview with Radio Marca Bilbao, later summarized by El Periódico de España. There was a sense of common purpose, with confidence that OCETA possesses the know-how to stage such a race. The chairman expressed optimism that this effort could solidify and eventually reach a point where the question of why a women’s edition exists becomes irrelevant.
three stages
Basque Country will celebrate its Women’s Tour with a three-stage format that opens this Friday. The route will traverse the three Basque provinces: the opening leg runs from Vitoria to Labastida in Álava, the middle stage passes through Mallabia in Bizkaia, and the final stage finishes in Donostia-San Sebastián in Gipuzkoa.
Integrated into the World Tour circuit, the pinnacle of professional women’s cycling, the event follows the path of the sport’s most prestigious men’s calendars. It is alongside other prominent stage races that have served as models for women’s events, with comparable formats to established races like the Tours and Tours variants in other regions.
OCETA previously organized female editions of the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2019 and 2021, the Basque calendar’s other major test for women. A 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic. For the current year, organizers chose to fold the women’s race into a three-day Itzulia. The plan foresees participation from many top-tier squads from the first division of world cycling, including Movistar. Basque teams Laboral Kutxa, Bizkaia Durango, and Sopela will also take prominent roles in leading the event.