Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa 2021

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Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa was a late addition to the 2021 Women's WorldTour  and will be held on July 31 in Spain.  

The third edition of the women's one-day classic will host all nine Women's WorldTeams, however, the event is overlapping with the Tokyo Olympic Games, and held just days after the women's road race (July 25) and time trial (July 28), and so many of the favourite climbers in the peloton may not be available to compete in this round of the top-tier calendar.

Organisers of Itzulia Basque Country and Clasica San Sebastián confirmed this spring the cancellation of the first edition of the Women's Itzulia stage race. The Women's WorldTour event was due to take place in May but was later listed on the UCI's page as 'postponed'. 

Organisers, however, went ahead with adding on a Women's Clasica San Sebastián on July 31, which will be a part of the UCI Women's WorldTour in 2021.

Race organisers of the men's WorldTour Clásica Ciclista San Sebastián launched their inaugural women's race Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa in 2019, won by Lucy Kennedy. The event was cancelled in 2020.

The route

The women's peloton will tackle a challenging 139km race that starts and finishes in  Donostia.

From the start the race heads to Orio, where a breakaway could form in the area of Aia, passing through the first category  3 climb of the day located at the 26.6km mark.  

The race then heads toward the category 2 Jaizkibel climb, 7.5km at 5.6 per cent, that peaks at the 90km mark. This climb is decisive and could prove to be the main judge of the race.

The riders will then contest the back-to-back category 3 climb Gurrutze, 2.7km at 5.2 per cent, and the category 2 Murgil, which is only 2.1km but with slopes as steep as 20 per cent. 

The last climb is followed by a fast and technical descent that gives way to the last four kilometres of flat roads into the finish line in Donostia.