Two-and-a-half months after crashing out of the Giro d'Italia, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) marked his return to racing in brilliant fashion by taking a solo victory in the Clásica San Sebastián. The Italian finished nine seconds ahead of Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), after dropping the young Swiss on the final climb of the Murgil.
Third place went to Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who edged Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), the pair just ahead of Christen's UAE teammate Isaac Del Toro, Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla).
The race's key moves took place on the penultimate climb of the Erlaitz, where an acceleration by Red Bull's Primož ended the hopes of breakaways Mads Wenzel (Kern Pharma), Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla). Del Toro and Ciccone went clear going over the top of the climb, and had a lead of close to a minute as they approached the Murgil.
Roglič once again upped the pace in the chase group, and Christen took advantage of the rapid narrowing of the gap. He jumped across to the two leaders and sped past them, but at a pace his UAE teammate Del Toro couldn't follow. Ciccone did respond and then countered with an attack of his own that opened what proved to be a winning advantage.
"This is something special because after the crash in the Giro it wasn’t easy to continue in the same way because, mentally, it was a really hard moment for me and for the team. I had two weeks off and realised this was a moment when I needed to come back stronger than before," said Ciccone.
"I need to say thank you to my team and teammates because they really pushed me a lot. Honestly I didn’t expect to be ready to win today, so I’m really happy to have these legs and the same level I had at the Giro before the crash.”
Asked about his winning move on the Murgil, Ciccone explained: “I think that was the moment that I took the decision to go full gas, when Del Toro was dropping and Christen was coming from behind. I think it was the right decision.”
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
The break of the day formed in the opening few kilometres. As well as Labrosse and Wenzel, it featured Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step), Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural), Darren van Bekkum (XDS Astana), Alexey Faure Prost (Intermarché-Wanty), Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL), Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel), Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet).
Their lead quickly reached its maximum margin of two-and-a-half minutes, at which point Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tudor began to share the pace-making in the peloton. Coming to the foot of the race’s emblematic ascent of the Alto de Jaizkibel with 70km remaining, the gap had been trimmed to 1-25.
The break blew apart on the Jaizkibel, Labrosse emerging as the best climber in the front group, the Frenchman building a lead of 24 seconds by the summit on Wenzel and Luke Plapp, who had attacked out of the peloton on the first slopes of the ascent. This pair bridged up to Labrosse soon after coming off the descent of the Jaizkibel, the trio’s lead a minute on the peloton.
On the following ascent, the first-category Erlaitz, Roglič attacked from what was left of the peloton, with Del Toro quick to respond. In the flurry of action that followed, first Wenzel, then Labrosse and, finally, Plapp were caught.
Going over the summit of the Erlaitz, Del Toro and Ciccone rode clear as a group came together behind them comprising Christen, Red Bull duo Roglič and Maxim Van Gils, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Cian Uijtdebroeks and Tiesj Benoot, Decathlon’s Léo Bisiaux, EF Education’s Neilson Powless, XDS Astana’s Cristian Scaroni and Plapp.
Heading back through San Sebastián and across the finish line to start the final 17.5km loop, Del Toro and Ciccone had pushed their advantage out to 58 seconds on the chasing group, with the next group close to another minute back.
The pair held that advantage into the foot of the final hurdle, the Murgil, 2km at close to 10% average. Roglič once again upped the pace in the chase group coming onto the climb, his acceleration halving the gap. Having sat on in the chase group with a teammate up front, Christen took advantage, bridging across to the front two and immediately blasting past them. Yet, while Del Toro immediately faded, Ciccone stuck with the young Swiss, then jumped past him.
The Italian had a lead of a dozen seconds as he emerged from the packed ranks of Basque fans at the top of the Murgil. It was then nip and tuck between Ciccone and Christen as they barrelled down the descent into the San Sebastián, the Swiss often having the Italian in his sights.
Going into the final kilometre, the Lidl-Trek veteran had managed to maintain that advantage and held it to the line to become the first Italian winner of the race since Paolo Bettini in 2003. He had enough time to celebrate in his usual fashion by tossing his sunglasses into the crowd, but no doubt held back after being fined for the gesture at the Tour of the Alps in April. All that mattered, though, was that Ciccone had won after his long layoff and that his season is back on track.
RESULTS
CLÁSICA SAN SEBASTIÁN (211.9km)
1. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 5:05:33
2. Jan Christen (Swi) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +09s
3. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +19s
4. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
6. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time
7. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco-AlUla +21s
8. Cristian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana +1:09
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike +1:10
10. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty +2:01
