Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa Preview - All eyes on Del Toro and Ayuso in the Basque Country

At this time of year, San Sebastián is primarily a place of vacation and leisure, with La Concha Bay dotted with holidaymakers. For some riders at the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa on Saturday, thoughts will already be turning towards vacations after an arduous Tour de France. But for others, the race marks the resumption of business ahead of an intense final phase of the season. 

That dichotomy makes the Klasikoa – still known to many as the Clásica San Sebastián – one of the most intriguing and unpredictable races on the WorldTour calendar. Some years, riders ‘fresh’ off the Tour avail of their sparkling condition to make hay in San Sebastián. Think Philippe Gilbert in his golden 2011 or Julian Alaphilippe in 2018.

More recently, however, the race has been claimed by riders who have missed the main event in July and arrived physically and mentally refreshed in the Basque Country. Remco Evenepoel powered to victory in 2022 and 2023, while Marc Hirschi – something of a late-season specialist – was at the beginning of a remarkable purple patch when he outkicked Alaphilippe twelve months ago.

Hirschi didn't make the impact he wanted in Tudor’s debut Tour de France and he will be looking to make amends here, but Alaphilippe misses the race through illness. Another man with firm San Sebastián pedigree, the three-time winner Evenepoel, is an absentee after he abandoned the Tour. 

Still, there are plenty of Tour men in action here who will hope they can carry a little momentum from July into this race. The parcours might be notionally too difficult for Quinn Simmons, but the Lidl-Trek man didn’t get the win his strength probably warranted in July, and he lines up alongside another man, Mattias Skjelmose, who left the Tour dissatisfied.

Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike) has a strong track record in this race and he will line out with ambition, as should Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), the breakout rider of the Tour. 2021 winner Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) didn’t make the impact he wanted in July, but he is a clear dangerman here.

Most of the attention before the start, however, will focus on riders who were not on show at the Tour in July, chief among them Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard hasn’t raced since he abandoned the Giro d’Italia in May and his transfer status has made headlines ever since, with Movistar reputedly trying to extricate him from his contract at UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

Despite initial reports to the contrary, Ayuso was confirmed in UAE’s Vuelta a España line-up this week. The Klasikoa thus marks the beginning of his build-up to that race, which increasingly feels like a defining moment in his career. The pressure is on Ayuso to perform and that starts in San Sebastián.

He will, however, find himself sharing leadership with two other young men in a hurry. Isaac del Toro usurped Ayuso as UAE’s leader at the Giro d’Italia and the Mexican has clearly recovered from the heartbreak of losing the race on the final weekend. 

Del Toro casually claimed three stage wins and the overall title at the Tour of Austria, then won the Clàssica Terres de l’Ebre and formed a one-two with teammate Igor Arrieta at the Prueba Villafranca - Ordiziako Klasika. 

He wasn’t racing against Tour de France-calibre fields, true, but it’s hard to shake the sense that the road to victory at this edition of the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa might run through Del Toro.

Other riders to watch include Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), who begins his Vuelta build-up here before travelling onwards to the Tour de Pologne, like Ayuso, and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), who is racing on home roads and is always something of a guarantee. The Basque was outsprinted by Evenepoel on his last appearance two years ago.

There are six classified climbs on the route of the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, starting with the early category 3 ascent of Andazarrate. The terrain becomes more arduous on the category 2 Urraki (8.6km at 6.8%) after 81km, which is followed by the short climb to Alkiza after 100km.

That winnowing process will already see plenty of riders ready to climb off by the time the race returns to San Sebastián for the first time with 80km to go, and the route then heads back out of town and towards the beating heart of the race, the Jaizkibel. Once the pivotal point of the race, the climb (7.9km at 5.5%) is these the spot where the selection usually begins.

Shortly afterwards, the race hits the short but sharp category 1 ascent of Erlaitz (3.9km at 10.6%). There are still 41km from the summit to the finish, and the route drops back into San Sebastián for a second time before looping around for the grand finale over Murgil-Tontorra (2.1km at 10.1%). 

The climb returns to the route after a one-year hiatus (it was replaced by Pilotegi a year ago), and the summit comes just 8km from the finish ahead of the high-speed run to the line on the seafront Alameda del Boulevard​. One way or another, everybody ends up on the beach in San Sebastián. 

Date: Saturday, August 2
Distance: 211km
Start time: 11:20 CET
Estimated finish: 16.29 CET
Total altitude gain: 3,912m