Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) won a two-up sprint against Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious( to claim a third career victory at Clásica San Sebastián
The result means the Belgian is now the joint-record holder for the most number of victories at the classic, despite being just 23 years of age.
Unlike his previous two victories here, this time he was unable to solo to victory, as Bilbao managed to stick to his wheel despite a searing pace set by Evenepoel on the final couple of climbs. But Evenepoel still had the edge in the sprint finish.
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) arrived 28 seconds to seal third place after being dropped by Evenepoel and Bilbao on the final climb of Murgil, while Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) attacked out of the peloton late on to take fourth and fifth respectively.
Evenepoel made his first attack on the third-to-last climb of the day, Erlaitz, over 70km from the finish, where Bilbao, Vlasov and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) were the only riders able to follow him.
“It was a super-good group,” said Evenepoel of this initial four-man selection. “They were perfect guys to join, Alberto, Pello and Aleksandr. We rode super-well together, perfect co-operation.”
Evenepoel arrived at the foot of the Murgil, with Bilbao and Vlasov, and an unassailable advantage of over two minutes on the chasing peloton. On the climb, he led the trio and set a fierce pace, in the hope of dropping the other two and soloing to the finish.
Initially, it seemed Bilbao was struggling, but the Basque rider surprisingly took over at the front halfway up the climb, upping the pace enough so that Vlasov was dropped. Evenepoel promptly resumed control, but was still unable to drop Bilbao, and they crested the top together.
“I took the rhythm on the Murgil,” said Evenepol, “put a hard rhythm, which I thought I could keep until the top. I saw that only Pello was with me, and I know he’s fast. I was actually a bit surprised by my sprint, because Pello is one of the fastest climbers of the bunch. I think I still had super-good legs for the last sprint.”
Bilbao led out the final sprint after taking to the front ahead of the final corner, but was unable to match Evenepoel’s explosive sprint, and over a bike length separated them at the line.
This is Evenepoel’s third San Sebastián win in as many appearances, and it’s obvious he loves racing here.
“I really love this race. The fans are amazing. But I have to say today, they were screaming a bit more for Pello than for me on the climbs! But I understand, it’s a Basque rider. It was super nice to race the finale with him.
Having already defended his titles at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and San Sebastián, he now sets his sights on retaining the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Glasgow next weekend.
“It’s super-good for the head and the motivation to start the second part of the season, and to go to Glasgow next week.”
How it unfolded
The riders began the 230.3km test through the Basque Country in warm, dry conditions.
There was an early scare for Evenepoel when he crashed in the neutralised zone, but was fortunately unhurt
There was some competition to get into the day’s break, and eventually a four-rider group was formed, consisting of Romain Bardet (DSM), Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Franck Bonnamour (Ag2r Citroën) and Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek).
They were shortly joined by Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), and the quintet established a lead that grew up to around four minutes.
They weren’t given too long out in the spotlight, however, as attacks started to be made in the peloton on the Alto de Jaizkibel, with Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Iván García Cortina (Movistar) and Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AlUla) going clear.
But it was on the next climb, Erlaitz, that the real selection was made. As the riders were approaching the summit, Evenepoel launched his inevitable attack — which, with 73km to go, was early even by his standards.
Unlike his similar moves in previous San Sebastián editions, this time some riders were able to latch onto his wheel: Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) and Alexsandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) Together they rode up to the final survivors of the day’s break, Bardet and Van Hooydonck, forming a new leading sextet.
There were some counter-attacks from the peloton, including one instigated by local Basque favourite Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), but none succeeded, while the chase failed to make inroads. By the time the leaders crossed the finish line for the first time with 48km still to ride, their lead was 1-10.
On the next and penultimate climb of the race, the Mendizorrotz, Evenepoel started to turn the screw. He moved to the front of the group and set the pace, promptly dropping Bardet and Van Hooydonck, then later Bilbao.
Back in the peloton, Felix Gall (Ag2r Citroën) attacked on the climb, and was joined by Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), but the pair were still left with over a minute to make up on the leaders.
Meanwhile, the peloton thinned out to little more than a dozen riders, as two of the Spanish pre-race favourites for victory, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), were among those to drop out.
As they approached the final climb, Murgil, the leading trio’s advantage continued to grow to over two minutes. If it wasn’t already, it was now clear that they would contest for the win.
Behind, Gall and Landa were joined by three riders, Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), but they were soon caught with 28km left to ride by the peloton, now bigger in size after riders had rejoined on the descent. Once Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) was caught 20km, they were racing for fourth place.
Bilbao just about managed to hang on to Evenepoel on the Murgil while Vlasov was dropped, but didn’t have the legs to defeat the Belgian in the sprint.
Results
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