UAE rider Marc Hirschi was awarded an exciting Classic San Sebastian in a tight final sprint to the great entertainer of racing, the French Julian Alaphilippewho broke the race on the final climb of the day.
The Classic followed a script that almost repeats itself every year, with small escape attempts from the first kilometers until one of them crystallizes.
The breakaway of the 2024 edition was led by a large group of runners, among which Simor Carr and Jesús Herrada stood out, who began to make a greater profit with the complicity of a peloton reserved for this moment.
The escapees continued to increase their profit and in the first step towards the finish line, already in the capital of San Sebastian but more than 90 kilometers from the finish, the differences exceeded four minutes and the alarms began to sound in a platoon traveling in groups and waiting .
One of the moments of the day came on the climb to the Jaizkibel pass where Simon Carr, who a few weeks ago won the Villafranca Grand Prix in the Guipuzcoan town of Ordizia, became serious and left his companions in flight to crown the second. category stop, once decisive and now important for the kilometers remaining until the finish line.
Things got even more serious at the day’s second big obstacle, a stop at Erlaitz where Carr turned his attention first to Julian Alaphilippe and then Russian-born Frenchman Pavel Sivakov, winner of the Vuelta a Burgos in 2022 and who is already a serious candidate to make it big in this race.
Attack of Alaphilippe
Sivakov was huge at the top of Erlaitz as the possibilities for Jonas Vingegaard disappeared, exhausted from the front line, paying the effort of this tough test route.
There was only a third major obstacle for the future winner and it was located less than ten kilometers from the finish line, at the new high Pilotegi in this edition, which includes a 27% ramp, and where Sivakov after prove his skills as a roller. start climbing alone.
Behind him, 20 seconds behind, came a group that wanted to chase the Frenchman all the way and among them was the Californian Neilson Powles, defending the title he won last year, along with Mikel Landa, Del Toro and Alaphilippe among others. famous figures.
Alaphilippe attacked Pilotegi and took Hirschi, a dangerous traveling companion who was third in this race in 2019 and who in the final meters had a higher speed than the Frenchman.
That was it and at the finish line of the Kursaal in San Sebastian the Swiss gave Alaphilippe no option to fight him to the last meter in his fight to repeat his victory in the Gipuzkoa capital in 2018.
Classification
1. Marc Hirschi (SUI) 5:46 hours
2. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) id.
3. Lennert Van Eetvelt (BEL) at 7″
4. Kevin Vermaerke (USA) at 17″
5. Jhonatan Narváez (ECU) at 25″
6. Neilson Powless (USA) id
…
17. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) at 1:38
Source: La Verdad
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