Kwiatkowski wins Clasica San Sebastian

Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski sprinted to victory in Saturday's Clasica San Sebastian, proving quickest to the line out of a select group of late escapees in the hilly one-day race. Lotto Soudal's Tony Gallopin was second across the line for runner-up honours, with last year's winner Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) rounding out the podium in third.

Kwiatkowski's teammate Mikel Landa forced a crucial selection going over the short but steep final climb, attacking and pulling Gallopin and Mollema with him to form a select trio in the closing kilometres. Kwiatkowski joined up with Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin to bridge across to the group, setting up a five-rider battle in San Sebastian.

A late surge by Landa allowed Kwiatkowski to follow the wheels of his rivals into the final kilometre, paving the way for a sprint as the quintet regrouped. Kwiatkowski won convincingly, taking his third WorldTour one-day race victory of the season after winning Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo in the spring.

"Such amazing Basque Spanish guys in the team today," Kwiatkowski said after the finish, acknowledging not only Landa, but also Mikel Nieve, who fired off an attack with around nine kilometres to go just after a solo move by teammate Gianni Moscon was reeled in.

"They were supporting me so well and I'm very thankful to the team. You could see Mikel Landa playing his crucial role in the end, and I could go for the sprint easily. I'm very thankful to Mikel that he waited in the group in the front. Today was just amazing, the team spirit, we believed that we could win the race."

How it unfolded

The lumpy 231km race kicked off under clear conditions in San Sebastian, with a seven-rider escape going clear early. Loïc Chetout and Matthias Le Turnier (Cofidis), Sven Erik Bystrom (Katusha-Alpecin), Jon Insausti (Bahran-Merida), Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Christophe Pfingsten (Bora-Hansgrohe) formed the main break of the day.

As the riders scaled the Meaga, Iturburu and Alkiza climbs, the pack allowed the break to push the gap up to a maximum of five minutes before it stabilised at around four and a half minutes. The advantage remained there or thereabouts through the midway point of the race before it began to fall rapidly on the first of two circuits taking on the Jaizkibel and Arkale climbs.

The gap was down around two minutes with 70 kilometres to go, spurring Erviti to solo away. Before long, his six former breakaway companions were swept up. The Spaniard made it up and over the second ascent of the Jaizkibel but was reeled in before the second passage of the Arkale climb.

The short but challenging Arkale saw splits opening in the peloton, and Moscon found himself well-placed in a small group off the front with around 25 kilometres to go. He seized the opportunity to solo clear, jumping out to an advantage of half a minute before the pack gradually pulled him back, making the catch with 10 kilometres to race.

Sky did not let up, with Nieve jumping away almost immediately. He too was brought back as the Iturba loomed.

The steep ascent quickly strung out the peloton, opening the door for Landa to shoot off the front. Only Gallopin and Mollema could follow. The trio opened a gap going over the top with Kwiatkowski and Dumoulin coming together in pursuit as the likes of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) and Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale-Drapac) found themselves distanced in a larger group of around 20 riders.

With his fast-finishing teammate attempting to bridge, Landa eased off the throttle in the lead trio, and three became five with around five kilometres left to chase.

The five leaders raced into San Sebastian more or less together before Landa put in his final dig, drawing out a response from Dumoulin but opening a gap to the other three. Mollema took up the job of closing down the move, allowing Kwiatkowski to sit at the back.

The 27-year-old Pole pulled into position for a sprint as the reorganised quintet hit the final kilometre. He quickly surged away in the final kick with Gallopin and Mollema settling for podium spots.

"It was a perfect day. We took control from the beginning, we took the responsibility of chasing the breakaway. We believed from before the start that we could win today. It's really nice race. I don't have really good experience from the past from San Sebastian but it's always a pleasure to race here," Kwiatkowski said.

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