After surviving an onslaught of attacks on the final climbs, Giulio Ciccone emerged as the strongest rider on the day with an incredible move to go solo on the final climb of Murgil-Tontorra to win the Clásica San Sebastián.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo of Jan Christen and Isaac del Toro looked to have the beating of the Italian with the numerical advantage firmly in their favour, but neither were strong enough to dislodge the Lidl-Trek rider, who then launched his decisive attack with 8.8km to go.
He went solo over the top of the climb, taking risks to extend his advantage on the descent, and though it looked like he may have been tiring as he entered the final kilometre, he just had enough to hold on to his slender advantage and take the biggest one-day race victory of his career.
"It was the moment I took to go full gas, I saw Del Toro was dropping and [Jan] Christen was coming from the back, so this was the moment to try. I think in the end it was the right decision," Ciccone said of his attack over the final ascent, reiterating how much this victory means to him in a post-race interview.
"I think this is something special. After the crash at the Giro, it was not easy to continue with the same morale. Mentally, it was a hard moment for me, especially for the team. I had two weeks off, and I realised it was the moment to come back stronger than before," he said.
"I need to say thanks to the team and my teammates. They pushed a lot for me. Honestly, I didn't expect that I would be able to win today. I'm happy to have these legs and to have the same shape that I had in the Giro before the crash."
How it unfolded
Starting and finishing on the shores of the Bay of Biscay in San Sebastián, the 44th edition of the Clásica San Sebastián saw the riders take on a 211.4km-long route around the north of the Spanish Basque Country.
The day began with a twelve-rider breakaway going up the road after around 5km of racing, with Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla) and Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma) among them. The group worked together for the majority of the day, until they hit the foot of the Alto de Jaizkibel, where gaps began to open up.
Labrosse was the strongest on the climb, with Wenzel the last to be distanced by the Frenchman. However, the main action came when Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) launched an attack from the peloton and bridged across to Double, who put in a big effort to close the gap for his teammate before the Australian rider accelerated again.
Plapp joined up with Wenzel over the top of the climb, and the pair worked well together on the descent to close the gap to Labrosse, before catching the lone leader with 52km to go. The trio then worked together on the 7km-long flat section before the beginning of the Erlaitz climb, where Plapp quickly left his breakaway companions behind.
The attacks then began behind, as Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) accelerated to whittle down the main group. The Slovenian drew Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) clear with him, but they were quickly rejoined by other riders as they closed the gap to Plapp.
As the Australian rider was caught, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) moved to the front of the group and launched an attack at just under 44km to go, as Roglič and Christen followed him along with their respective teammates, Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Around a kilometre later, it was Del Toro's turn to launch a move with only a few hundred metres to go until the top of the climb. Ciccone stayed glued to the Mexican rider's wheel and followed the move, with the others in the group unable to do the same.
The pair quickly established a lead over the chasers, who grew in size and strength as the terrain levelled off. However, with so many different teams represented, they struggled to get much cooperation in the group, allowing the gap to go out to nearly a minute.
Ciccone and Del Toro continued to work well together on the descent and the subsequent flat section, but their gap never went above the minute mark, as Roglič fully committed himself to the chase behind in service of Van Gils.
As they hit the lower slopes of the Murgil-Tontorra climb with around 10km to go, Jan Christen attacked from the chasing and punched his way across the gap to the leading duo. When he reached them, he went straight over the top and on the attack again, with Ciccone immediately jumping on the wheel, whilst Del Toro was unable to follow the move and began to drift backwards.
However, the young Swiss rider may have misjudged his effort, as Ciccone then counter-attacked him as soon as he noticed that he was in a bit of difficulty to open up a gap and go solo.
Once he was over the top of the climb, the Italian rider began the descent towards the finish with around ten seconds of a lead. He took several risks on the downhill section and had some near misses as he pushed the limits in an attempt to extend his advantage, with Christen doing the same to try and close the gap.
As they came off the descent, it seemed a near-certainty that Ciccone would win, but he still had to maintain his effort all the way until the finish, and though he looked to be tiring slightly in the closing kilometres, the gap was just too much for an equally tired Christen to close.
After proving himself to be the strongest rider on the day, Giulio Ciccone crossed the line eight seconds ahead of Christen to win the Clásica San Sebastián, whilst Van Gils won the sprint behind for third place ahead of Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Del Toro.
Results
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