Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) won the 2026 Itzulia Women, closing the gap to a front group of seven riders in the streets of Donostia to defend her race lead.
Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) won the final stage ahead of Évita Muzic and Lauren Dickson (both FDJ United-Suez), repeating her stage win from stage 2.
The yellow jersey was dropped on the Mendizorrotz climb in the final of stage 3 and was 30 seconds behind a front group of seven riders with 10km. Bredewold shot down the descent, and in the final kilometre, she made it back to the front group and still sprinted to sixth place on the stage.
“It’s making me emotional. The support from the team was incredible. I really started to believe I could do it today because they really believed in me. I’m very, very happy to take this victory,” said Bredewold after the podium ceremony where she received the customary txapela hat.
“Last year, I overpaced myself on the climb in the beginning. I knew that was my biggest enemy today. Friday, I felt a little bit better on the climb [than today], but I was struggling with position. I thought that if I take over, with the headwind it’s going to cost me too much energy, so I really had to pace it,” Bredewold described the climb before reliving the whirlwind final 10km.
“I saw the gap was not too big, and I knew the flatter part and then the technical descent is my part. When I came down, I saw them, and I had only one goal. I don’t think I dug this deep in my life before, I almost fainted behind the podium just now. But we made it,” she finished.
How it unfolded
The final stage started and finished in Donostia, and the 113.1km course included several uncategorised hills and three classified climbs: The famous Jaizkibel followed by the third-category Gurutze before the climb to Mendizorrotz cresting with 10.1km to go would decide the…
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