Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa 2021 - The contenders
Annemiek van Vleuten the favourite but mountainous one-day race could see a surprise winner
Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa is a relatively new women’s races on the international calendar embarking on its third edition on July 31 in Spain.
A late addition to the Women’s WorldTour this year, the one-day race will see just six of the nine top-tier teams competing through the mountainous terrain of the Basque Country.
The women's peloton will tackle a challenging 139km race that includes four ascents; an opening ascent in Aia, followed by a mid-race climb Jaizkibel, and back-to-back climbs over Gurrutze and Murgil before a descent to the finish in Donostia.
The peloton will field six top-tier teams BikeExchange, Movistar, Ale BTC Ljubljana, Liv Racing, FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, and Trek-Segafredo racing alongside 14 Continental teams.
Cyclingnews highlights some of the riders to watch for Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange)
The Australian climber’s form will be somewhat unknown after a long recovery from a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where suffered fractures to her hand, collarbone and eye socket. However, she is back and ready to race, lining up as the defending champion after winning the inaugural edition in 2019.
She will line up with a strong team that includes Ane Santesteban and Janneke Ensing, who was second in 2019, are also strong climbers and contenders for the win.
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Kennedy’s injuries meant that she missed out on the selection to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Although she hasn’t raced since the spring, she said she’s had time to get back on her bike in training and is prepared to take the start line again. It will be interesting to see how she fares in the race and cycling fans will be watching to see the spark that netted her the win in 2019.
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)
Fresh off of winning two medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games - silver medal in the road race on July 25 and the gold medal in the time trial on July 28 - Van Vleuten made the long journey back to Europe to compete at the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
She is the big favourite for the one-day race not only because of her high-level form right now but also because she has a special interest in competing in Spanish races. Also, her Spanish-based Movistar team will have a goal of winning on home soil.
Van Vleuten has already proven both her strength and loyalty to the team’s home-race objectives after winning Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Emakumeen Nafarroako, and standing on the podium at Navarra Women’s Elite Classic, Gran Premio Ciudad de Eidar, Durango-Durango Emmakumeen Saria and Vuelta a Burgos, all held in Spain in May.
Tatiana Guderzo (Ale BTC Ljubljana)
She is a veteran of the sport and former world champion. Guderzo has shown continued dedication to top-level racing, even despite having considered retirement during the last couple of years.
She has shown promising form this year, too, finishing eighth overall at the Giro d'Italia Donne, along with second in the road race at the Italian Championships, and eighth overall at Tour de Suisse.
She is as much a strong stage racer as she is a one-day rider, and with her world-class climbing form, she is a contender in Spain.
Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo)
Cordon-Ragot is normally racing in a support role at Trek-Segafredo but she might have an opportunity at leading the team in the one-day mountainous race.
She has shown some of the best form in years, which was on full display at the French National Championships in June where she won the time trial title and finished second in the road race from a select five-rider group that sprinted for the win.
A top rouleur in the peloton, she excels on rolling terrain, in breakaways and small groups, and she's a fast finisher. Her victory at the Tour de l’Ardeche last year was a great example of just how strong a rider she is when given the opportunity to race for the win.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Liv Racing)
A team leader at Liv Racing, Rooijakkers is a strong climber and a smart race tactician. She can support a teammate or slip into a leadership position with ease during any type of race.
Top-10s in the early-season’s Brabantse Pijl and Festival Elsy Jacobs led to a strong run in the series of Spanish races in May with eight place at Emakumeen Nafarroako Women’s Elite, fifth at Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria and then ninth overall at Vuelta a Burgos.
Rooijakkers finished third at Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa in its inaugural edition in 2019, riding into the breakaway after the Jaizkibel climb. It was the winning move that rewrote the CCC-Liv team’s strategy from getting Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio on the podium to Rooijakkers on the podium instead.
Rooijakkers has matured a lot as a rider in the intervening two years and we can expect her to be in contention for the win this time around.
Erica Magnaldi (Ceratizit-WNT)
Magnaldi will be one to watch after a 13th place overall at the Giro d'Italia Donne, she will have had some time to recover and train for the one-day race on hilly terrain that suits her well.
Magnaldi joined Ceratizit-WNT in 2019 to lead the team on the climbs. She was fourth overall at the Tour of California Women’s Race (2018) and 10th in the overall at the Giro d’Italia Donne the next year.
She is almost always among the top 10 on mountainous stages of races like the Giro d’Italia Donne, Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Giro della Toscana, and Tour de l’Ardeche.
At Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa, she will have more freedom to create an opportunity for victory or to follow winning moves on the four ascents.
Ane Santesteban (Team BikeExchange)
Billed as a climber with resilience and toughness for multi-day racing, Santesteban was brought into BikeExchange ready to support team leader Amanda Spratt while also developing her own strengths in the sprints and an improved time trialling technique.
This year, the Spanish rider finished in the top-10 at the series of home events Emakumeen Nafarroako Women's Elite Classics, Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar, Durango - Durango Emakumeen Saria, which bodes well for her position heading into Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
Her team line up with a series of cards to play, too, with defending champion Lucy Kennedy and 2019 runner-up Janneke Ensing.
Evita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope)
Muzic is the new French Champion. She is one of the big up-and-coming stars of the sport finishing third in the youth classification at the Giro d'Italia Donne and second in the youth classification at Vuelta a Burgos this year.
She took her first Women’s WorldTour victory at the Giro d’Italia Donne in 2020 on the final stage into Motta Montecorvino, proving her world-class position in the peloton.
Her performance to win the French title this year was nothing short of outstanding, out-sprinting a five-rider group to the finish line in Epinal.
These performance will have no doubt given Muzic a boost of confidence heading into a one-day race like Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
Eider Merino (A.R. Monex)
Merino is one of the pure climbers in the bunch and will want to impress her new team A.R. Monex on home spoil. Formerly racing for Movistar, Merino has finished in the top 10 overall at the Giro d'Italia Donne (2018) and Emakumeen Bira (2019).
She might not be as powerful as some of the other more punchy climbers in the field, but Merino is consistently among the top climbers in the big race.
She is certainly a rider to watch on the climbs through the Basque Country at Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo)
Trek-Segafredo have several cards to play in the one-day race and that includes Ruth Winder.
She arrives to Spain having just competed in the road race at the Olympic Games for the United States, where she finished 45th after helping compatriot Coryn Rivera to seventh.
She will be one of the strongest opportunists in the field and looking for a victory in San Sebastian for Trek-Segafredo before retiring at the end of the season.
She has had several stand-out performances this season, winning Brabantse Pijl, second at Navarra Women's Elite Classics, and seventh at La Flèche Wallonne Féminine.
Kirsten Frattini has been the Editor of Cyclingnews since December 2025, overseeing editorial operations and output across the brand and delivering quality, engaging content.
She manages global budgets, racing & events, production scheduling, and contributor commissions, collaborating across content sections and teams in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia to ensure audience and subscription growth across the brand.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
