Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) took a striking win at Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa in a two-up sprint against Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) after the two made a blistering attack on the final ascent of the 236km Basque race.
The two rode clear on the ascent of Pilotegi with 7km remaining, with an attack ignited by Alaphilippe. They quickly carved a lead on the remnants of the main peloton, before setting up for a cat-and-mouse sprint where Hirshi proved the stronger sprinter of the two after opening his sprint within the final 200m into Donostia San Sebastián.
Behind them, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) managed to follow their initial move but was unable to bridge to the duo out front, but secured third place ahead of Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) who won the sprint for fourth.
Speaking after the finish, Hirschi described the race as “super hard”.
“We went so fast, and then we just climbed,” he said of the final ascent, “We just suffered to the top and then we looked back and we were only two so we knew we had to continue and we had a nice sprint.”
UAE Team Emirates had picked Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) as the day’s major threat, but the Dane failed to make a dent in the race and was instead dropped on the day’s main climb of Jaizkibel.
“We were surprised Vingegaard didn't feel so strong on the second last climb,” Hirschi said. “So actually we had a plan that after the Tour if [Vingegaard] doesn’t feel super we’re going to attack with Pavel or Jan [Christen] and then was good for us as we sit on the wheel.”
Sivakov’s attack was one of the day’s most impressive solo moves - animating the final 40km of racing. “I think if there was one less Lotto-Soudal guy Pavel would win today,” Hirschi said. ”They closed and we were ready, we were three guys still so we went full gas on the last climb.”
Hirschi described the day as a “very very big victory and means a lot to me. Next to Tour de France victory and Flèche Wallonne this is one of my biggest wins in cycling.”
Alaphilippe was also happy with his ride when interviewed shortly after the finish, despite missing his opportunity to take a repeat victory at the race he won in 2018.
“I feel happy to be back on the podium of a big race and of course little bit disappointed to be really close,” he said. “But I think I did a good race and did my best so happy with this second place.
“I was really suffering, I felt good so I did my tempo,” he said of the last climb. “In the end, I did my best, and Marc Hirschi was really strong. He did a good sprint, good timing and he’s also really explosive.”
How it unfolded
The peloton set off to sunny coastal splendour in Donostia San Sebastián, with a 236km loop in the harsh undulations of the Basque separating them from a return to the very same finishing spot.
Ahead of them, seven categorised ascents would punctuate a route with barely a flat kilometre within it. The key decisive climbs on the route ahead promised to be the Jaizkibel (7.9km at 5.5%) with around 75km remaining and the savagely steep Erlaitz (3.8km at 10.7%) with 45km remaining.
Attacks came quickly from the peloton with Alpecin-Deceuninck populating the early attacks, before a group of 10 managed to ride clear just after 40km of riding.
The breakaway contained Davide De Pretto (Jayco AlUla), Simon Carr (EF Education - EasyPost), Warren Barguil (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
The group worked well together for the bulk of the day’s racing, shedding no one from their ranks and holding a three-minute lead with 80km remaining, as the race too to the ascent of Jaizkibel.
The steep ramps of the Jaizkibel were enough to shed most of the breakaway, who were caught by the peloton in quick succession, with Carr, Ghebreigzabhier and Zwiehoff leading over the summit.
By the end of the descent from Jaizkibel, Carr found himself solo but showing impressive form as he held nearly a minute gap on the approach to the 3.8km 10.7% slopes of Erlaitz.
The ramps proved to be too testing, and Carr was reeled back barely a kilometre into the ascent. His return to the peloton was quickly met with an attack by Julian Alaphilippe and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe ). They were joined by Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates), who attacked solo as the two initial attackers were reeled back well before the summit.
Sivakov rode solo over the peak of Erlaitz with 40km separating him from the finish,. Behind him a fragmented peloton selected only the strongest climbers of the day, and even shed the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Hugh Carthy.
His effort was a brave one, and despite barely establishing a half-minute gap the French rider held a slim but viable margin of 15 seconds into the finish town of Donostia San Sebastián, where a 16km circuit would conclude the race.
The finish circuit’s central climb of Pilotegi (2.1km at 10.8%) proved too much for Sivakov, as his strong solo effort was pulled in with 9km remaining.
His brief breakaway partner Alaphilippe showed his hand on the final brutal 15% slopes of the climb as he danced away from the remains of the day’s peloton with only Marc Hirschi able to match his pace.
The two left no doubt about their finishing form, quickly carving a gap to the remaining field, and the stage was set for an electric two-up sprint.
