The Clasica de San Sebastian appears for the second straight year in the World Tour. The Basque Country will host the best riders again, after the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Pieter Weening made a great exhibition to take the overall win of the race. The route prepared for this year is slightly different, as the traditional judge of the race, Jaizkibel, will be climbed twice. This will probably mean that the race is more suited more to classics riders that can go over the small mountains.
Apart from the riders featuring in the favorites list there are others to be followed, like the Movistar duo (Rebellin and Kruijswijk), the Discovery duo (Brajkovic and Nieve) and Hubert Dupont. Mikel Nieve riders at home and will probably be keen on doing a good race, as will be the Movistar riders.
Favorites:
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil): Who else could be topping the favorites list but Bauke Mollema. His top 10 in Poland has practically assured that Mollema will be the winner of the World Tour classification this year, but his season is not over and this race in Spain is his best chance for a good result. The two climbs to Jaizkibel should play in his favor.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Radioshack): Fuglsang won in San Sebastian last year. However, this year's route is slightly tougher in the final part of the race. The Dane had a great start of the season, when he won the Milano - Sanremo. However, the last we saw him get a result was in the stage win in the last day of Romandie. His second peak form should arrive in this end of season classics, so we hope to see some good racing from the Dane.
- Bart de Clerq (Lampre): Bart de Clerq took a rest after the Tour and comes back for the end of season classics. The Belgian already knows what is doing good in San Sebastian, as he was in the podium last year. If he keeps the willingness to attack he had in the Tour we will have fun with him for sure.
- Dries Devenyns (Quickstep): Dries Devenyns comes from taking a stage in the Tour of Poland and is aiming for the overall win in San Sebastian. Devenyns will surely have the leading role here, as Pieter Weening is picking up the form for the end of the season. Therefore, the Belgian will be one of the men to follow closely.
Clasica Ciclista de San Sebastian San Sebastian - San Sebastian
The new route in San Sebastian highlights the climb of Jaizkibel, which will be done twice. However, as it is quite far from the finish line it will probably reduce the size of the bunch but will not give us the winner. This will be a race with a big range of possible winners.
8 brave riders took the chance of looking for the win through a break. The most relevant name among them was Denis Menchov (Katusha), but we also had Tony Martin (Sky), Jurgen Roelandts (Quickstep) and Denis Galimzyanov (BMC). As they went through the town of Andoain (124 kilometers remaining) they had a gap of more than 7 minutes over a very quiet bunch.
The peloton increased a lot the pace in the first climb to Jaizkibel. John Gadret (Discovery) first and Frank Schleck (Radioshack) afterwards took the responsibility to set a good pace in front. The riders still had 80 kilometers to go, but the gap to the break shrank to 2' 45'' at the top.
Bauke Mollema crashed in the descent of Jaizkibel. One of the main favorites finds a big hurdle in the way, as even though his whole team soon stopped to wait for him Mollema will have to do a big effort to rejoin the pack once the race has turned very fast.
The bunch was about to catch the break as they crossed the KoM sprint of Jaizkibel for the second time. Mikel Nieve worked hard in the climb to increase the pace. It is now clear that the Discovery Channel is working hard for Janez Brajkovic. Meanwhile, Mollema has spent a lot of energies but is back in the front of the race.
Jakob Fuglsang did the first important move of the race in the climb to Arkale (16 km to go). The Danish rider was soon followed by Janez Brajkovic, Damiano Cunego and Bjorn Leukemans. The important names start taking the responsibility in the last kilometers of the race.
The first break was eventually reeled back in and a moment of pause led to the main group of 50 riders entrance in San Sebastian. However, Cunego was not ready for a sprint of the group and attacked in the small hill inside the city. There were only 4 kilometers remaining.
Six riders reach the final kilometer ahead of the main group. Sylvain Chavanel is the first to start the sprint, followed by Jakob Fuglsang, Damiano Cunego, Bjorn Leukemans, Janez Brajkovic and Tejay van Garderen.
Jakob Fuglsang wins in San Sebastian! The Dane wins here for the second time in a row. We said in the presentation of the race that Fuglsang should retake his early season form and what a way of doing so. His final sprint was so good that he ended up putting 11 seconds between himself and the rest of his group.
Janez Brajkovic in second and Sylvain Chavanel in third will share the podium with Fuglsang. This is the first good performance of Chavanel with the Ag2r team, after doing a good job of supporting Thibaut Pinot in the Tour de France. Behind Chavanel, Leukemans, Cunego and Van Garderen completed the top 6.
The Vattenfall Cyclassics is the flattest classic of the season, as there is only one small hill, Waseberg, that the riders will have to climb 4 times in the outskirts of Hamburg. However, as flat as the race is Beñat Intxausti managed to win through a break in the last kilometers 2 years ago. Considering that, the teams with sprinters should be very aware in the last 2 climbs to the hill.
Taking out the four favorites, the riders to follow will be Bjorn Leukemans and Alessandro Ballan for a solo win. In case of a mass sprint, Bernhard Eisel, Tyler Farrar, Heinrich Haussler and Jose Joaquin Rojas will surely play a role.
Favorites:
- Ben Swift (Sky): Ben Swift is not normally in the pool of favorites for sprints, but this race seems to fit his characteristics very well. The British from Sky has been the best in the team, only shadowed by the two stage wins of David Millar. Swift won a stage in the Tour de France, a landmark in his career.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Radioshack): Jakob Fuglsang will be leveraging on his great form, as he showed winning the Clasica de San Sebastian. This will be a very different race, but both share the long distance. The Dane has showed that he can also have a good speed in sprints after long stages, so he will be someone to be looked at.
- Francisco Ventoso (Euskaltel): Even if Fran Ventoso only has had 1 stage win this season (in the now far Tour Down Under), he is having very solid performances. He caught several breaks that made it to the finish in the Tour and even though he could only be 2nd once and 3rd twice. With a team working for him he should do well in Hamburg, as ha is one of the best sprinters that can hold on for long races.
- Matthew Goss (Saxo Bank): Even though Tyler Farrar is the best sprinter in the Saxo Bank team, Matthew Goss could have an edge on the American and could be the man to work for in such a long race. The Australian has had a poor season so far, the same as most of the Saxo team, so he is in dire need of some result before the season end.
The four climbs to the Waseberg will be the highlight of a race that is anyway expected to finish in a mass sprint. The race features several loops around the city of Hamburg in a 250 kilometer race.
The presence of Bauke Mollema was a big surprise in today's break. The Dutch is the best rider of the year and is anyway looking for good results in races that don't favor him. In the group of 6 there was other good riders like: Chris Froome (HTC), Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) and the defending champion Beñat Intxausti (Katusha). The group had 10 minutes on the bunch in the first climb to the Waseberg, with 115 kilometers remaining in a day marked by the very strong wind that was blowing in Germany.
The very strong wind ended up breaking the peloton in several pieces that eventually joined in two parts. Among those who were left behind appear some important riders for the win, such as Matthew Goss, Fran Ventoso, Heinrich Haussler and Bernhard Eisel. As the pace increased due to the chase between both parts of the peloton the gap of the break was only 1' 20'' with 50 kilometers remaining.
The break was caugtht in the third climb to the Waseberg. 65 riders were in the front group and the others would find it very hard to join the leaders as they lose more than 2 minutes. Rabobank and Lotto are doing the biggest part of the job on setting the pace in the pack.
Mikel Nieve tried a late attack as the bunch went into the last 4 kilometers. Intxausti already won with an attack 2 years ago, so it is possible to carry the momentum and win this way. However, the bunch seems well organized with Astana, Lampre and Saxo Bank positioning in the front.
Nieve is still ahead as the main sprinters have started the final run for the line. Tyler Farrar is leading the way ahead of the local John Degenkolb and one of the main favorites Ben Swift.
Tyler Farrar wins the Vattenfall Cyclassics! The American sprinted side by side with John Degenkolb and could hold on to the lead by a small margin. This is the first win of the season for Farrar in probably the last chance that the sprinters will have to run a mass sprint this year. The Saxo Bank team was also in dire need of a good win, as they had only got Dupont's win in Luz Ardiden this year.
The second place of the race was for the local John Degenkolb. There was some point in the sprint where it looked like Degenkolb would be able to get past Farrar, but he run out of gas. Meanwhile, Mikel Nieve surprisingly could keep the last podium place in the final sprint ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich and Ben Swift.
The Clasique de Plouay appears for the second time in the second Tour, two years after the first race here. The French race is a very entertaining race in a circuit around the town. Two years ago Jose Joaquin Rojas took advantage of a great attack from Janez Brajkovic to beat the Slovenian for the win in the final sprint.
Apart from the main favorites it will be worth taking a close look to: Sylvain Chavanel, the French is the local favorite for the race especially considering he races for a French team; Bauke Mollema, the Tour winner comes back to France and he showed in Germany that he is eager to keep racing; Jure Kocjan and Giovanni Visconti.
Favorites:
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto): Leukemans doesn't only love the cobbles, but he is also a very good hills rider, as he showed earlier in the week of the Ardennes by winning in Liege and coming second in the Fleche Wallonne. He is the main riders in the Lotto team along with the World Champion, Jelle Vanendert, so expect a good race from him in Plouay.
- Davide Rebellin (Movistar): Rebellin is having an amazing year, where he is sharing the lead for the biggest number of victories. The Italian should be in top form after winning the Tour of Poland not long ago.
- Dries Devenyns (Quickstep): As usual, another Belgian is in the set of favorites for a hilly classic. Dries Devenyns the Fleche Wallonne and was 2nd in the Amstel Gold Race earlier in the year and is aiming at another good result in France. Quickstep comes in full strength to Plouay, bringing maybe their best 7 riders.
- Janez Brajkovic (Discovery): Obviously, the last of the favorites for the race is Janez Brajkovic. The Slovenian was the absolute dominator of this kind of races last year but he has only been able to win once this season, in the Amstel Gold Race. Nevertheless, he has had many good performances that have put him close to the final win, so he is still among the very best hills riders.
The race in Plouay is usually very entertaining, as the riders ride a circuit slightly longer than 25 kilometers 9 times. The lap has 2 climbs hard enough to avoid a mass sprint and the race usually finishes with a late attack winner or a sprint in a small group.
The break of the day was formed by 10 riders, including Pierre Rolland (Quickstep), Tony Martin (Sky), Alessandro Petacchi (Vacansoleil), Igor Anton (Euskaltel) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Astana). They had 6' 50'' on the bunch with 113 km remaining. However, the peloton seemed to have the race in control.
Bart de Clerq is again on attacking mode today in Plouay. The Belgian attacked 70 kilometers from the finish to try the solo victory. However, the bunch immediately started chasing him. As he enters the last two laps of the race (52 km to go) he loses 1' 15'' with the break and the bunch loses 2 minutes.
De Clerq didn't go too far today, as the bunch was controlled by Movistar and Discovery. The Americans brought a great team to work for Brajkovic today. As the riders climb the penultimate hill the only two survivors of the break, Michael Rogers and Denis Galimzyanov, are about to be caught.
The race broke at the end of that first climb of the last lap after an attack by Miguel Angel Rubiano was followed by Janez Brajkovic and Davide Rebellin. Many riders joined them and as the group was going by the 10 kilometers mark there were 12 men in the favorites group. Lotto (Rubiano and Leukemans) and Vacansoleil (Sagan and Mollema) are the only teams to have 2 riders. All of the main favorites were in this group.
Sylvain Chavanel attacked again at the end of the last hill (7 km to go). The French is first followed by Joost van Leijen, who is looking surprisingly strong. The Vacansoleil riders didn't look that good and they lost contact with the favorites group.
Jakob Fuglsang went past Chavanel on the descent towards the finish line and reaches the last 4 kilometers 15 seconds ahead of a group of 4 (Van Leijen, Devenyns, Leukemans and Chavanel). The Dane is looking good as the run towards the finish line is very fast. The rest of the favorites couldn't follow and are already discarded for the win.
Fuglsang is going to take the win as the chasers start the final sprint. Van Leijen was the first to start the final sprint ahead of Devenyns, Leukemans and Chavanel. The distance with Fuglsang remained at 15 seconds, so the Radioshack rider has everything in favor.
Jakob Fuglsang wins in Plouay! The Dane is ending the season amazingly well and takes his third classic of the season, after Milano - Sanremo and Clasica de San Sebastian. A late attack in the closing kilometers of the race gave Fuglsang the win, this time with a bigger margin than in San Sebastian. Even though there wasn't any time difference awarded his win was never in danger.
Two Belgians will share the final podium with Fuglsang. Dries Devenyns was second and that even serves him to jump to the second place of the World Tour. Bjorn Leukemans took the third place after outsprinting Joost van Leijen. The Dutch was also overtaken by the local favorite Sylvain Chavanel. Davide Rebellin and Janez Brajkovic were slightly disappointing today after they couldn't follow the final move, especially as their teams controlled the race very well for them.
