Following Tadej Pogačar's dominant win at the Tour de France and an extended break for the Paris Olympic Games, WorldTour racing returns on Saturday, August 10 with the Basque one-day race, the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa.
This year, the race runs its 44th edition, having started out in 1981 in the city of Donostia/San Sebastián near the French border. The city, capital of the Basque province Gipuzkoa, hosts both the start and finish of the hilly race and also hosted stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France.
With a succession of hard, steep climbs packing its route, the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa is a race suited to climbers and puncheurs. The Jaizkibel climb is the most famous on the route, even if its 5.5% average slopes are far from the toughest of the day.
Former world champion Remco Evenepoel has been the champion in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and holds the record for most wins alongside Marino Lejarreta, a triple winner in the 1980s. Other famous past champions include Alejandro Valverde, Laurent Jalabert, Philippe Gilbert, Paolo Bettini, Davide Rebellin, and Julian Alaphilippe.
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa route
After a switch-up in the route for last year which retained just five of the nine climbs from the 2022 edition, the 2024 route brings more change with just three of the same climbs remaining from 2023 – the Alkiza, Jaizkibel, and Erlaitz.
Five of the seven classified climbs are shared with the route of two years ago, however, with the bulk of the route looking broadly similar to the 2022 race.
The climbing starts early with the Andazarrate (5.9km at 5.7%) lying to the south of the host city after 27km of racing. The unclassified Itziar (6.1km at 2.9%) comes in between that hill and the Azkarate (4.3km at 7.1%) as the route spears north to the coast.
The second-category Urraki (8.5km at 6.9%) presents the toughest challenge of the race's first half after 107km, while the Alkiza (4.5km at 5.8%) is the final climb before a 30km run in the valley back north to Donostia.
The Jaizkibel (7.9km at 5.5%) comes after 175km and stands as a key point in the race, even if it's early on the route to make a winning move. That could come on the following climb of Erlaitz (3.8km at 10.7%), the toughest of the race, which peaks at 42km to go. The climb hosted Remco Evenepoel's long-range winning move two years ago.
A descent and flat run through the finish line for a second time follow before the race's final challenge at Pilotegi. Lying 8km from the finish, the short and sharp hill measures in at 2.1km at 10.7%, with the final kilometre averaging 14.5% and maxing out at 27%.
If the winning move hasn't been made over that climb, then the flat run back to Donostia should play host to late attacks and a reduced sprint among a small lead group.
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa contenders
Following his double Olympic success, triple race winner Remco Evenepoel won't be back to compete for a fourth title this weekend. Instead, his Soudal-QuickStep teammates Julian Alaphilippe and Mikel Landa lead the line for the Belgian squad.
As well as Landa, there's plenty of Basque representation at the race with the 34-year-old among 20 home riders across 10 teams. After finishing second last year, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) might be the best candidate among them to succeed.
Movistar can look to Oier Lazkano and Alex Aranburu, while Cofidis also have a pair of homegrown hopes in Ion Izagirre – fifth last year – and his brother Gorka. Promising youngster Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates) should be one for Basque fans to watch for in the coming years.
Arrieta forms part of a strong UAE team including Isaac Del Toro, Marc Hirschi, and Marc Soler, with all three potential candidates for glory. Other teams with multiple options for success include Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe with Sergio Higuita and Dani Martínez, EF Education-EasyPost with 2021 winner Neilson Powless and Richard Carapaz, and Visma-Lease A Bike with 2022 podium finisher Tiesj Benoot and Sepp Kuss.
Visma-Lease A Bike's chances are also substantially boosted by the news that Jonas Vingegaard will be racing at San Sebastian, who enters as a strong favourite on the extremely hilly route.
Elsewhere, Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) is a strong contender following his run of one-day racing successes this season. Elsewhere, further options for the top spots include Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), and Steff Cras (TotalEnergies).
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa start list
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