Clásica San Sebastián

Clásica San Sebastián, on the UCI calendar as the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, is a WorldTour one-day bike race held in late July or early August in Spain's Basque Country. The route leaves San Sebastián for the inland hills and returns to the coast after a late sequence of steep climbs that favor aggressive racing in the final hour.

The Clásica San Sebastián, officially the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, is a WorldTour one-day race through the hills of the Basque Country, first held in 1981. It comes soon after the Tour de France. Jaizkibel, Erlaitz and a last steep climb above the city decide it, and Remco Evenepoel has won it a record four times.

Marino Lejarreta wins the first Clásica San Sebastián

Marino Lejarreta won the first edition in 1981, ahead of Graham Jones and Faustino Rupérez. He won again in 1982, finished second in 1986 and took a third title in 1987. No one matched his three wins until 2023.

Miguel Indurain won in 1990, Gianni Bugno in 1991 and Claudio Chiappucci in 1993. Francesco Casagrande in 1998 and 1999 and Laurent Jalabert in 2001 and 2002 each won twice in a row. Alejandro Valverde’s two wins came six years apart, in 2008 and 2014, and he stood on the podium four more times.

Jaizkibel, Erlaitz and Murgil: the climbs that decide the race

The race starts and finishes in San Sebastián. After a loop inland it heads northeast toward Irun, close to the French border, where its two main climbs are. Jaizkibel is 7.9 kilometers long at 5.6 percent. Erlaitz, which comes next, is 3.8 kilometers at 10.6 percent and tops out a little over 40 kilometers from the finish.

The riders then pass through the finish and go out again for a short last circuit. Its climb in most recent editions has been Murgil, 2.1 kilometers at an average of about 10 percent, with eight kilometers from the top down to the finish on the Boulevard. In 2024 the last climb was Pilotegi.

Remco Evenepoel wins San Sebastián at 19

Evenepoel was 19 and in his first professional season when he won in 2019. He was dropped from the bunch on the penultimate climb, and he said afterward that he had not felt good for most of the race. With less than 20 kilometers to go he slipped away with Toms Skujiņš, and the two gained 45 seconds in the valley before the last climb.

On the steepest part of that climb Skujiņš held his wheel through a first attack. A second one dropped him, and Evenepoel went over the top with 42 seconds on the peloton and rode alone to the finish. Greg Van Avermaet finished second and Marc Hirschi third. “I’ll be honest, it was really a dream to once win this race in my career, and now I’ve done it already,” Evenepoel said.

Two long attacks from Erlaitz in 2022 and 2023

In 2022 Evenepoel’s team set the pace on Jaizkibel, where Tadej Pogačar was dropped. On Erlaitz Evenepoel attacked, and only Simon Yates could follow him, briefly. He rode the last 44 kilometers alone and won by just under two minutes from Pavel Sivakov, with Tiesj Benoot third at 2 minutes 31 seconds.

A year later he attacked on Erlaitz again, 73 kilometers from the finish, and Pello Bilbao, Aleksandr Vlasov and Alberto Bettiol went with him. Only Bilbao and Vlasov were still with him at the foot of Murgil, where Bilbao, who is Basque, took over the pace and Vlasov was dropped. Bilbao led out the sprint, and Evenepoel beat him by more than a bike length. It was his third win in three starts, and it brought him level with Lejarreta.

Hirschi and Ciccone win in 2024 and 2025

Julian Alaphilippe, the winner in 2018, attacked on Pilotegi in 2024 with seven kilometers remaining. Hirschi went with him and won their two-man sprint.

In 2025 Isaac del Toro attacked near the top of Erlaitz with Giulio Ciccone on his wheel, and the two rode clear with a lead that never reached a minute. On the lower slopes of Murgil Del Toro’s teammate Jan Christen came across from the chasing group and attacked at once. Ciccone followed him, and Del Toro dropped back. Ciccone then counterattacked with 8.8 kilometers to go, went over the top alone and won by eight seconds from Christen, with Maxim Van Gils third.

Evenepoel’s fourth win and the record in 2026

In 2026, the 45th edition, Evenepoel had to change bikes on the way out of Hondarribia, with 49 kilometers to go and Erlaitz close. He said afterward that he had punctured after the descent of Jaizkibel. He lost 40 seconds and chased alone to the foot of the climb. With 33 kilometers to go he reached the front group, where his teammate Van Gils then set the pace.

Partway up Murgil, with 8.7 kilometers to go, Evenepoel attacked, and only Richard Carapaz could follow. They reached the top together, and Evenepoel won the sprint on the Boulevard, with Ben Tulett third. “Fourth was the hardest, the most tricky,” he said. His four wins put him one ahead of Lejarreta.

This is the rare late-summer one-day race that rewards climbers with a finishing kick rather than pure sprinters or Grand Tour specialists. The Basque hills are steep enough to shed the pure fast men but short enough that positioning and timing matter more than sustained power. The race sits in the calendar gap between the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, drawing riders who want a final hit of form or a standalone target when stage racing is done.