One, two, three and four. Not even a puncture could prevent the natural conclusion, with the favorite crossing the finish line with arms raised: Remco Evenepoel triumphs in the Classica San Sebastian 2026 and enters the history books, as no one had ever won on the Basque roads four times before. Intelligent in recovering from the deficit accumulated after the mechanical issue, calculated in the final sprint, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) forced to surrender in the two-man sprint. Giulio Ciccone, last year's winner, attempted a comeback in the closing stretch, but the return of the chasing group knocked the Lidl-Trek climber off the podium: sixth place for the Abruzzese rider, while Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) finished fourth.

THE RACE. The race was animated by an initial breakaway of eight riders who gained a good margin over the main group: Tim Rex (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Inigo Elosegui (Equipo Kern Pharma), Adne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Valentin Ferron (Cofidis), Lorenzo Quartucci (Burgos Burpellet BH), Nicolas Alustiza (Euskaltel Euskadi), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) gained approximately 3 minutes, but on the Urraki climb the advantage was significantly reduced. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek began managing operations in the final 60 kilometers, and a mechanical issue shook things up, with Remco Evenepoel, the day's great favorite, suffering a puncture.

The Belgian closed the gap on the brutal Erlaitz climb. Giulio Pellizzarri was waiting for him at the front of the group; UAE and Lidl attempted to force the pace to create selection and capitalize on the moment. At the end of the climb, a group of ten riders remained in contention with several favorites, including Enric Mas, Giulio Ciccone and Richard Carapaz. Evenepoel intelligently managed his disadvantage by moving toward the front of the race, and at 30 kilometers to go the group came back together, waiting for the final moves. On the treacherous Murgil climb, less than ten kilometers from the finish, the decisive action arrived that effectively split the race: at 8 kilometers to go, Evenepoel made the difference, with only Carapaz managing to stay attached to the Belgian. In the final stretch, Ciccone remained 8 seconds behind the leading pair, then was caught by the chasing group. In the final kilometer the two worked together, but in the sprint the Belgian had the upper hand.

«Certainly this was the most difficult of my four victories - he said immediately after winning -, the puncture came at the worst possible moment, but I thank Giulio Pellizzarri who did great work, and I also have to compliment Van Gils for what he did. For me it would have been better not to puncture, I would have attacked earlier, but I'm very satisfied with the result».

FINISHING ORDER

1. Evenepoel Remco (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in 05:23:10
2. Carapaz Richard (EF Education-EasyPost)
3. Tulett Ben (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 29
4. Scaroni Christian (XDS Astana Team)
5. Bilbao Pello (Bahrain Victorious)
6. Ciccone Giulio (Lidl-Trek)
7. Christen Jan (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
8. Hirschi Marc (Tudor Pro Cycling Team)
9. Camprubí Marcel (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team)
10. Bisiaux Léo (Decathlon CMA CGM Team)