August 1, 2026
Some of the riders coming off of the Tour de France will have hit top form after the super compensation acquired from three weeks of hard racing. Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa is the perfect race at the perfect time to be able to take advantage of those gains and maybe grab a result at a prestigious race. The riders will roll out of San Sebastián along the Playa de La Concha for 221 grueling kilometers with over 4,200 meters of elevation gain. The first 140 km of the race consist of four categorized climbs along a clockwise loop following the coast road to Mutriku before turning South, East, then back North to San Sebastián where the riders will cross the finish line in the opposite direction. The finale will begin with the 8 km Jaizkibel which tops out 64 km from the finish. There is very little valley road before the 4 km, 11% beast of the Erlaitz but the descent doesn't begin right away which could offer a launch point for those looking to get ahead of the race early. The course will bring the riders into San Sebastián one last time through the finish line for a short lap which includes the Murgil Tontorra, a 2 km climb at nearly 10%. If someone has a gap at the top, it will be very difficult to chase back because the descent is steep and there is only 3 km of flat roads through the city before arriving at the finish line where the winner will claim their very own txapela.
Highlighted Riders
Giulio Ciccone, Matteo Jorgenson, Remco Evenepoel, Maxim Van Gils, Richard Carapaz, Jan Christen, Felix Gall, Mauro Schmid, Christian Scaroni, Mikel Landa, Ramses Debruyne, Javier Romo, Enric Mas, Pello Bilbao, Afonso Eulálio, Jarno Widar, Lennert Van Eetvelt, George Bennett, Jan Castellon
Race Summary
The Basque weather was nearly perfect for the riders at 20C (68F) with partly cloudy skies, albeit a little humid. When live coverage began, the break of the day was part way up the Jaizkibel at 69 km from the finish and was splitting under the pressure of Tim Rex of Visma-Lease a Bike. With Rex was Iñigo Elosegui of Equipo Kern Pharma, Valentin Ferron of Cofidis, Nicolás Alustiza of Euskatel-Euskadi, Lorenzo Quartucci of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Nickolas Zukowsky of Pinarello Q36.5 but they had just 45 seconds on a chase group containing Sean Quinn and Michael Leonard of EF-Education EasyPost and Bart Lemmen of Visma-Lease a Bike. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe had control on the peloton and were only a further 15 seconds behind the Quinn group.
With 3.5 km still to climb, Rex was on his own but there was movement in the peloton. Jay Vine of UAE-XRG had attacked and was marked by Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. Vine never looked behind and flew up the mountain, catching the Quinn group and passing riders dropped from the original break. Rex was caught a few hundred meters from the top and the group containing Vine, Rex, Lemmen, Quinn, Van Gils, and Quartucci crested the summit with 22 seconds on the Lidl-Trek led peloton.
Once off the descent, we got pictures of Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe all alone and off the back of the peloton by around 45 seconds. No teammates had dropped back for him but he seemed to be riding alright and he had no sign of a fall so the gap must have been created due to a mechanical of some sort. The intensity was full on at the front of the peloton as Lidl-Trek were pulling to bring the Vine/Van Gils group back while simultaneously making it as hard as possible for Evenepoel to return.
At the foot of the Erlaitz with 46.5 km to go, Vine and company had been caught and Evenepoel was still chasing at 30 seconds. Louis Barré of Visma-Lease a Bike was the first to attack and get a gap on the climb and he was joined 2 km from the top by Paul Double of Jayco AlUla with the rest of the peloton at 15 seconds and weaving across the road to find some relief from the steep gradients. 500 meters from the summit, Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek brought a group up to Barré and Double which included Van Gils, Léo Bisiaux and Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM, Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost, Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike, Enric Mas of Movistar, and Mathys Rondel of Tudor Pro Cycling. Ciccone led the lead group of ten over the top 40 seconds ahead of group two which contained Evenepoel and at least three UAE-XRG riders.
Just outside of 33 km to go near the bottom of the descent in Oiartzun, the Evenepoel group made contact with the leading 10 to make around 30 riders at the front of the race. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, UAE-XRG, and Visma-Lease a Bike set the pace along the low roads into San Sebastián to keep the group together for a showdown on the Murgil Tontorra.
A left turn off the main road at 12 km to go brought the riders to the lead in to the climb. The road narrowed and the gradients gradually increased as UAE-XRG were drilling it towards the steep sections. With 9.5 km to go, 1.5 km from the top, the gradients pitched up and Van Gils took over from Kevin Vermaerke of UAE-XRG to set a reducing pace for Evenepoel. It wasn't until 600 meters from the summit that Evenepoel made the first move with an acceleration and the group stretched on the 16% ramps. Carapaz was the only one to stick to the Belgian's wheel as they passed through thousands of screaming Basques clad in orange.
Evenepoel led Carapaz over the top at 8.2 km to go with around 10 seconds on the first chaser in the form of Giulio Ciccone. Barré bridged up to Ciccone on the descent but the gap was out to 20 seconds by the bottom with 3 km to go. The leading pair rounded the bay with 2 km to go and were safe from being caught. Ciccone and Barré continued to leak time and were caught by Rondel and Ben Tulett of Visma-Lease a Bike and were not far from being caught by a larger chase group. Inside the last kilometer, Evenepoel surprisingly allowed Carapaz to come off the front and slot in behind the Olympic Road Race Champion. What was more surprising was that Carapaz went back to the front at 500 meters to go to lead out the sprint. Carapaz went to the left side of the road through the last corner which is when Evenepoel jumped. The sprint was a little long but he caught Carapaz slightly off-guard and a bike length was all he needed. Evenepoel powered to the line with his bike length's advantage and celebrated with arms aloft for the fourth time in San Sebastián, an all-time record. The race for third was among a group of nearly 20 riders which was won by Tulett ahead of Christian Scaroni of XDS Astana and Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious.