
When the riders of the 2025 Itzulia Basque Country come off the team buses and head for the stage 1 time trial start ramp this afternoon, much of the attention will, logically, be on its strikingly unusual location - Vitoria's Buesa Arena indoor sports arena.
But an unconventional start location certainly won't be the only atypical element to this year's race. After a terrible mass crash on stage 4 of the 2024 Itzulia saw 12 riders abandon simultaneously, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Steff Cras (Total Energies) amongst those suffering major injuries and quitting, what happened last April has yet to disappear completely from pro cycling's rear-view mirror.