The Team animated the 2026 edition from start to finish, with Quinn Simmons securing second place after a selective and aggressive finale in Estella-Lizarra!
One year on from Thibau Nys’s victory here in the north of Spain, the Team were back and on the hunt for more glory! The 203km race was hard from the outset, with an early break going clear before the peloton steadily increased the pressure heading into the final circuits. The Team remained active throughout, with Hector Alvarez and Eñaut Urkaregi stepping up from the development team and riding prominently alongside the WorldTour squad. Alvarez was particularly active across the day, collecting enough points to win the sprint classification and setting up Quinn for the finale.
(Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Inside the final 30 kilometres, Julien Bernard made the front selection as the race began to split under pressure, ensuring Lidl–Trek presence in the key move before the decisive attacks on the closing climbs. The winning move came on the penultimate ascent, when Ion Izagirre attacked from a reduced group. Simmons was the only rider able to follow initially, but Izagirre made the difference on the steep final kilometre to take the victory solo.Simmons held on strongly to secure second place, while Andrea Bagioli rounded out a solid team performance in fifth.
From Quinn
I didn't know how I would feel today. It's been three weeks since Strade Bianche and I think I left Strade a little disappointed. I was able to put that into three weeks of good quality training so I'm just happy to see that my fitness is increasing. We were close to the win today, but didn't get the top step, but at least it's better than being far off. Today is a step in the right direction and with this next week (Itzulia) being so hard, especially a rider in my weight class, this is probably the hardest week of the year so at least now the legs are good enough to get through it ok.
