Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl to Clasica San Sebastian

Spain’s only World Tour one-day race contains seven leg-sapping ascents and some really brutal gradients.

Less than a week from the end of the Tour de France, many of the riders who completed the second Grand Tour of the season will line out for the 41st edition of Clasica San Sebastian, a spectacular 224.8km race to the taste of climbers and puncheurs alike. Starting and finishing in the charming Basque city that lies on the coast of the Atlantic, the race should get off to a quiet start before coming to life on the iconic Jaizkibel ascent (8.3km, 5.3%), which will feature inside the last 70 kilometers.

With 40 kilometers to go, the riders will take on the Erlaitz, a 3.8km-long ascent averaging 10.6% that promises to whittle down the bunch, before a long descent followed by some flat roads taking to the bottom of the brutal Murgil Tontorra (1.8km, 11.5%), whose steep and grueling gradients and narrow roads can be used as springboard to victory, especially as the hill will be crested just eight kilometers from the finish located on the famous Boulevard.

Victorious here in 2019, when he became the youngest rider ever to get a victory at World Tour level, Remco Evenepoel will make his first appearance with the Wolfpack since completing an altitude training camp in Livigno, part of a solid squad including Mattia Cattaneo, Mikkel Honoré, James Knox, Fausto Masnada, Pieter Serry and Jannik Steimle.

“Clasica San Sebastian is a beautiful, and at the same time, hard race. Remco won it in his first year as a pro, Mikkel came close of taking the victory last year, and the two of them together with our other guys who will be at the start will form a strong team whose ambition is to get a good result”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Wilfried Peeters.

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