One of the few WorldTour one-day races built for climbers who can sprint, held in the Basque Country when summer heat meets coastal hills.
Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa is a WorldTour one-day race held each August in Spain's Basque Country. The route loops through the hills above San Sebastián, finishing in the coastal city after a series of short, steep climbs that favor aggressive racing in the final hour.
The race has been won by some of the sport's most complete riders, from Marino Lejarreta to Paolo Bettini to Alejandro Valverde.
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.
The route typically features multiple laps of a finishing circuit that includes short, punchy climbs in quick succession. The final ascent comes close enough to the line that a small group can stay away, but far enough that a chasing group with fast finishers can still close it down if the pace wavers. Expect the race to fracture on the last lap, with attacks coming on every climb as riders test who has the legs to go clear and the speed to hold it to the seafront finish. The heat and the narrow, twisting roads through the hills add friction that can splinter even a motivated chase. Positioning into the final circuit is critical, and teams without a protected climber often find themselves watching from behind.