Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has claimed a record fourth victory at Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa, outsprinting late-race breakaway companion Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) at the finish line in San Sebastián.
"Fourth was the hardest, the most tricky," Evenepoel said as he celebrated his win surrounded by the international and local media, having had to chase back to the front of the race after a mechanical issue at a key moment earlier in the day.
It all came down to the final ascent of the Murgil, where Evenepoel made his decisive attack and only Carapaz could follow. The pair held off a chase group on the descent and run-in to the finish, with Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinting to the final place on the podium.
Carapaz led the pair into the final kilometre, where Evenepoel then took his turn on the front, but with several hundred metres to go, Carapaz regained the lead only for Evenepoel to sprint around him to take the victory.
"It was the most difficult one of all four," Evenepoel said in the TV interview after the finish.
"After the downhill of Jaizkibel, I had a flat tire. We know that Erlaitz was coming up super quick, so I had to be patient. I have to thank my team for all the work, of course. Giulio Pellizzari did a very good job on the bottom of Erlaitz to bring me as close as possible, and Maxim [Van Gils] was being patient in the front waiting for me."
"So, in the end, I had to finish off the work of my teammates. What a day and a beautiful victory again."
Giulio Ciccone was among the protagonists (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The 45th DSSK - Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa - offered the WorldTour peloton a 221.1km race in and around San Sebastián.
The challenging route included seven categorised ascents over Kalbario, Azkarate, Urraki and Alkiza before entering the first (and longer) final circuit, which included climbs over Jaizkibel (7.9km at 5.6%) and Erlaitz (3.8km at 10.6%). The race then hit a flat section toward the shorter circuit and the final climb of the day, Murgil, which was only 2.1km but with an average gradient of 10.1% before a descent to the finish line in San Sebastián.
After finishing second overall at the Tour de France, Evenepoel lined up with his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad in an attempt to claim a fourth victory at the one-day race in San Sebastián. Another favourite on the start line was defending champion Giulio Ciccone from Lidl-Trek, and another former winner, Marc Hirschi, racing for Tudor Pro Cycling.
After multiple short-lived attacks, a breakaway of eight emerged within the first 30km that included Tim Rex (Visma-Lease a Bike), Iñigo Elosegui (Equipo Kern Pharma), Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Valentin Ferron (Cofidis), Lorenzo Quartucci (Burgos Burpellet BH), Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling), and Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
The eight riders still had a nearly two-minute lead on the reduced peloton with 70km to go, ahead of the last three climbs of the race. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe continued to lead the peloton for their leader Evenepoel.
The break makes its way through San Sebastian (Image credit: Getty Images)
As the breakaway approached the final climbs, Rex and Quartucci surged, clearing their rivals with Elosegui struggling to hang on a few seconds behind.
From the main group, four chasers emerged over the Jaizkibel, including Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The quartet caught and passed the remnants of the early breakaway - all but Rex and Quartucci - forming a reshuffling front group of six.
Over the Erlaitz, however, Van Gils was the only rider who remained out front before being joined by Ciccone, Matteo Jorgenson and Louis Barré (Visma-Lease a Bike), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Felix Gall and Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Enric Mas (Movistar) emerged as the new leaders of the race.
Not far behind, Evenepoel joined a chase group that included Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Jan Christen, Kevin Vermaerke and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
Despite their efforts, the groups reconnected on the flat sections toward the final smaller circuit and into the decisive Murgil with 10km remaining.
Jhonatan Narvaez faded on the final climb (Image credit: Getty Images)
UAE Team Emirates-XRG led the reduced peloton into the lower slopes of the ascent, but Narváez struggled to hang on, with rivals Evenepoel, on the wheel of teammate Van Gils, Carapaz and Gall all in good position.
Evenepoel surged with 8.7km to go, partway up the climb, with Carapaz on his wheel as the two cleared the rest of the selection over the top in what was reminiscent of the battles on the slopes of the major ascents of the Tour de France in July - where Carapaz won two stages, and Evenepoel finished second overall behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Ciccone and Barré may have struggled to stay with the two riders on the climb, but they attempted to bridge across on the descent and run-in to the finish line, and they were later joined by the rest of the chase group - the sprint between the Evenepoel and Carapaz.
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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.
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