In the place where Schachmann (Soudal - Quick-Step) celebrated some of his greatest successes, the 31-year-old Berliner has now ended his period of suffering. A stage win at the small Tour of Sibiu through Romania in 2023 was the only success Schachmann was able to celebrate after his heyday, following his title defence at Paris-Nice 2021 and the German championship title in the same year.
Schachmann had also won the opening time trial of the Tour of the Basque Country once before in 2019, when he went on to collect two more victories. "I'm very happy," he said after his race. "The Basque Country seems to be a good place for me. I've celebrated most of my victories here and it just feels really good to be back in the leader's jersey of this tour. I'm overwhelmed, it's been a long time since my last WorldTour victory."
More than just a phrase: Schachmann's thanks to the team
He also thanked his team. In Schachmann's case in particular, this should be more than just a phrase. "I thank the team for believing in me and I'm just happy to be back here." Schachmann turned professional at Quick-Step in 2017. After several difficult years, he has now been back with the Belgian team since the start of the season, which is obviously doing him good. He had already performed well at the Tour of the Algarve in February.
Florian Lipowitz also delivered, but obviously didn't have the best conditions. The 24-year-old explained that he fell ill after his strong second place at Paris-Nice, was only able to train to a limited extent recently and didn't know for a long time whether he would even be able to compete in the Basque Country. "That's why I'm very happy with the result and also with my form."
Nevertheless, he is unlikely to take on the captain's role at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. "I'm here as a helper, we have a super-strong team at the start." This was underlined above all by Aleksandr Vlasov, who finished fifth, ten seconds behind Almeida (UAE Emirates - XRG), making him the second-best GC rider. In Daniel Felipe Martinez, another Red Bull ace was still within reach, 23 seconds behind. While Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek, +12 seconds) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain - Victorious, +27 seconds) were two other riders who did relatively well, Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Enric Mas (Movistar Team) and Guillaume Martin (Groupama - FDJ) were already more than a minute behind and can therefore bury any hopes of a podium.
Tour of the Basque Country 2025 - Results of stage 1
Stage 1 (ITT): Vitoria-Gasteiz - Vitoria-Gasteiz (Baskonia-Alavés)
Itzulia Basque Country 2025: Stage 1 (ITT), Vitoria-Gasteiz - Vitoria-Gasteiz (Baskonia-Alavés)
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soudal Quick-Step | 00:18:37 |
| 2 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00:01 |
| 4 | Soudal Quick-Step | +00:00:06 |
| 5 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00:10 |
| 6 | Soudal Quick-Step | +00:00:11 |
This is how the 1st stage of the Tour of the Basque Country 2025 went
Haraold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) opened the Tour of the Basque Country as the first starter in the opening time trial. He rolled out of a basketball arena onto the course, which some pros described as a high-speed route despite the small waves. However, the average speeds allowed this conclusion to be drawn. Tejada set an average speed of 51.6 km/h.
The time didn't last long, however, as Ethan Hayter (Soudal - Quick-Step) quickly took over from him. As the 27th starter, Schachmann then entered the race and delivered a strong time of 18:37 minutes (53.2 km/h), a time that would stand the test of time. The two time trial specialists Victor Campenaerts (Visma - Lease a Bike) and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) were also unable to do anything about it.
While the GC aspirants Mas and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious) left the race with a big rucksack full of time, the Red Bull round riders did better. Vlasov was ten seconds slower than Schachmann, Lipowitz only one, so that there was a German double lead in the meantime. This was only crashed again by Almeida, who finished five tenths behind Schachmann.
No-one really posed a threat after that. Only Skjelmose and Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers) made it into the top 10, while top favourite McNulty surprisingly failed to do so, although he was still within reach of Schachmann at the split times.
