Remco Evenepoel takes aim at a Clásica San Sebastián triple – Preview

WorldTour racing resumes after the Tour de France, with Remco Evenepoel back in action at the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday.

Held on the same day as the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne and just a week before the Road World Championships, the Spanish Classic offers a chance for riders on form after three weeks in France as well as those aiming for the rainbow jersey in Glasgow.

Evenepoel is a two-time race and stands out in the list of riders targeting the World Championships and then the Vuelta a España. The Belgian is seeking to join Marino Lejarreta as the only man to win the race three times.

The Soudal-QuickStep leader knows as much about winning the race than anyone in the current peloton, having soloed to victory in 2019 and 2022 – the latter by two minutes after a 44km solo effort last summer.

He's gearing up to defend both his rainbow jersey and his Vuelta a España crown over the next two months and he's set to face stern competition from a slew of riders fresh from the Tour over the 230km race through the Basque Country.

“San Sebastian is a race I love. My first World Tour victory came here in 2019, then I won again three years later, so there are only great memories that I have from the Basque Country and I look forward to returning there," Evenepoel said. 

"There’s also the electric atmosphere the Basque fans create on the climbs, where they give you an extra push by cheering all the time and yelling your name, that makes this race one of the best out there, so I can’t wait to be back there this weekend." 

Clásica San Sebastián 2023 contenders

Amongst those names challenging for victory are several riders who finished among the top 10 in Paris. 

Simone Yates (Jayco-AlUla) was the best of the lot at the Tour, finishing fourth, and the Briton has twice finished in the top 10 at the Clásica San Sebastián.

Fifth and sixth at the Tour, Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) will carry Spanish hopes at the race along with Bilbao's teammate Mikel Landa, Tour stage 12 winner Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), and UAE Team Emirates leader Juan Ayuso.

All five men fit the profile to succeed in San Sebastián, with Landa and Rodríguez (last year) both having recorded top five placings in the past. 

Ayuso, however, might be the man to watch from the quintet. The 20-year-old  recently finished third at his first race in a month, the Prueba Villafranca. His UAE teammate Alessandro Covi placed fifth her two years ago and can't be ruled out of contention, either.

At AG2R Citroën, Felix Gall heads up the squad in top form after taking a starring role during the final week of the Tour de France. The Austrian won the queen stage in Courchevel and took second on the final mountain stage. He'll have Ben O'Connor for company, the Australian having helped him to success in Courchevel.

2016 winner Bauke Mollema is back with Lidl-Trek, the Dutchman racing alongside Tour de France polka dot jersey winner Giulio Ciccone. Another past winner taking the start is Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), who won in 2021 and comes off a strong showing in France where he battled with Ciccone for the mountain classification.

His fellow North American Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) will be another man among the favourites. The Canadian enjoys the steep slopes of the Basque climbs and is another man in form following the Tour – he won stage 9 to Puy de Dôme.

Other names to look out for among a long list of favourites including another Tour stage winner in Victor Lafay (Cofidis), fellow Frenchmen Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich), the latter's teammate Andreas Leknessund, and Jumbo-Visma leader Tiesj Benoot, third last year.

However Evenepoel remains the big favourite, who leads a Soudal-QuickStep team which can also boast Julian Alaphilippe, Andrea Bagioli, Mauri Vansevenant, and James Knox.

He has won the UAE Tour, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Belgian road title this year in addition to stages at the Volta a Catalunya, Giro d'Italia, and Tour de Suisse. 

He hasn't raced since beating Alec Segaert to his national title in Izegem a month ago, but as his stage win, three second places and third overall in Switzerland showed following his Giro abandon, some time away from racing is unlikely to hold him back.

He's the betting favourite to win the race and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him off the front and racing solo towards a third win in San Sebastián on Saturday afternoon.

Clásica San Sebastián 2023 route

The route of the race around the hills of the north-eastern Basque Country doesn't change too much year on year, though for 2023 the race returns to the tougher, climb-packed final 100km that we last saw in 2019.

While the last couple of editions have seen the peloton tackle the famous Jaizkibel (6.9km at 6.1%) as well as Erlaitz (4km at 10.4%) and the late climb of Murgil Tontorra (2.1km at 9.8%), this time around those three come with another challenge, the Mendizorrotz (4.1km at 7.3%) sandwiched in as the penultimate climb.

The race kicks off with the Meaga (3.6km at 3.3%) within the opening 30km, followed up by more climbing in the legs with the Iturburu (6.9km at 5.1%) and Alkiza (4.5km at 5.8%) both before the 80km mark.

Having stretched out west halfway to Bilbao, the route then loops around back towards the finishing town of San Sebastián, passing through a series of smaller hills to the south – there are few flat kilometres among the 230 on the way to the line.

100km from the finish, the Jaizkibel – a famous fixture on the race – marks the start of the finale and the beginning for the big battle for glory. 

Erlaitz, the steepest challenge of the day and Evenepoel's launchpad a year ago, comes up next 20km later before a dive downhill into San Sebastián and a pass through the finish line by the coast.

The climbing keeps coming thereafter, with the Mendizorrotz at just under 40km to go offering a chance for the top favourites to thin out the front group even further. After the descent and a flat-ish run of almost 20km, the Murgil Tontorra lies as the race's final challenge.

The slopes, reaching up into double-digit gradients at points, could prove decisive in the fight for the win, with the peak of the climb coming inside the final 10km of racing.

As Evenepoel has shown in recent years, the winning move might have long gone by then, though you might just as well expect a small group to race into San Sebastián to set up a blockbuster sprint finale.