
A great, extraordinary achievement by Giulio Ciccone who puts his signature on the 44th edition of the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa. The Abruzzo rider from Lidl Trek was the protagonist on the Basque climbs and solo broke away, first dropping Del Toro and then Christen to arrive alone at the traditional San Sebastián finish line after a 211.4 km race. A grand comeback for Ciccone, who had been sidelined since the Giro d'Italia, when he was forced to withdraw in the Nova Gorica stage.
THE RACE. The Klasikoa was characterized by the long breakaway proposed by Labrosse (Decathlon AG2r), Gelders (Soudal Quick Step), Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural RGA Seguros), Van Bekkum (XdS Astana), Faure-Prost (Intermarchè Wanty), Leijnse (Team Picnic PostNL), Martín (Euskaltel Euskadi), Delaplace (Arkea B&B Hotels), Double (Jayco AlUla), Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH). The breakaway then exploded on the Jaizkibel when attacks began and the Frenchman Labrosse went off alone while the group of attackers behind him disintegrated.
Plapp and Wenzel rejoined the Frenchman 50 km from the finish, with the group 1 minute behind, led almost exclusively by UAE Emirates XRG.
On the first slopes of the penultimate climb, Erlaiitz, Roglic made the first attack, followed by actions from Del Toro and Ciccone, with these two finding themselves at the front and continuing their move, pursued by a group composed of Christen, Van Gils, Biasiaux, Benoot, Powless, Uijtdebroeks, Roglic, Plapp and Scaroni. Meanwhile, Ayuso was having a difficult day.
On the Murgil-Tontorra climb, Christen made a good move, rejoining the leaders with Ciccone reacting to his push, while Del Toro paid the price. With 8.7 kilometers to go, Ciccone counterattacked and dropped Christen.
ITALY. Italy had not won in San Sebastian for 18 years: the last to win was Leonardo Bertagnollio in 2007.
updating
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Ciccone Giulio (Lidl-Trek) in 05:05:33
2. Christen Jan (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 09
3. Van Gils Maxim (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) + 19
4. Benoot Tiesj (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
5. del Toro Isaac (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
6. Powless Neilson (EF Education-EasyPost)
7. Plapp Lucas (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 21
8. Scaroni Christian (XDS Astana Team) + 01:09
9. Uijtdebroeks Cian (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 01:10
10. Meurisse Xandro (Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 02:01