Lutsenko tops a list of betting favorites that is very “by the numbers”, or rather by the number, that number being the hill stat. It seems dubious that these will be the actual Top 10 at the end of the day, but we’ll see.
On a rainy morning in the Costa Rican capital, youngster Hobbs, currently on loan at IncaLine, is the first attacker of this new season. Fellow neo-pro Cole makes history as the first televised rider from new Brandt Cycling Team.
A bunch of riders follow in multiple waves, including debut attacks by Karthago from Tamm and Billstedt-Horn from Brenner.
After roughly 10 kilometers, things settle down and we’re left with a breakaway of 12 riders. They are:
Scalco
Voltr
Brenner
Graat
Rolland
Grozev
Cole
Van Sintmaartensdijk
Hobbs
Tamm
Jungels
Plamondon
Apart from Van Sintmaartensdijk and Jungels, all of these are riders still in development, and no one stands much above the others in terms of expected strength on this terrain.
Not a whole lot is happening as the riders make their way through the countryside below grey skies. Five teams share the workload at the front of the peloton: Fincantieri for, if starting numbers are anything to go by, Langellotti; Air New Zealand-Prada for Lutsenko; SEE Turtles for McCarthy; JEWA TIROL for Simon Yates; and interestingly, The Cardinals seem to be high on leader Vogt’s chances today. The development team is eager to leave its mark early this year.
The gap between the peloton and the breakaway had peaked at around six minutes but quickly started to decrease around the halfway point of the race. Inside the final 50 kilometers, SEE Turtles took firm control of the peloton with Main and Restrepo leading the efforts. None of the escapees are a match for riders of that caliber, of course, but not wanting to go down without a fight, Van Sintmaartensdijk, Voltr and Brenner attack just as the rest of the group are about to be caught.
Nothing came of that last ditch effort, and all breakaway riders were quickly swallowed by the peloton. However, on the flat towards the first of two final climbing combinations, we see another attack that could be more consequential.
Covi initiates the move with Lau, Glivar and Wirtgen in his slipstream. This feels like an odd moment to choose, as none of them are particularly strong flat riders and the peloton behind them is still 97 riders strong. But it’s an effort to get some time in the limelight, if nothing else.
Osorio will be a leader for SEE Turtles on many occasions this year, but today, he fully embraces his domestique role and brings the attackers back into the peloton after an 8 km chase. The riders now hit the five-degree slope that will eventually lead towards the downhill into the finale.
On the steeper roads of the following climb, the big names come out to play. Quita attacks, countered by McCarthy, Lutsenko and Vendrame.
That attack completely rips the peloton apart and for the second time today, we’re left with a 12 men group at the front of the race. They are:
Lutsenko
J. Yates
Rojas
Tesfatsion
Vendrame
Schönberger
Blouwe
Kanepejs
McCarthy
Quita
Turgis
Vogt
The main peloton is already 1’30 behind them and not making much headway. Things can still change on the flat, but if this group makes it to the finish line, some big names are missing out, including Yates, Mayer and the Fincantieri duo Kinoshita and Langellotti.
Four riders were stuck between both groups but manage to bridge across to the leaders with 13 kilometers to go. Bergstrom Frisk and Stehli make it three in the front group for Karthago and Tafjord, respectively, and McKenna adds a second scoring option for Simba Cement. The JEWA rider here is Kelderman, who’s trying to compensate for S. Yates’ absence here.
But the situation is far from settled. Banco Vaticano and Fincantieri are throwing everything they have into this chase and they’re slowly closing the gap. Notably, Langellotti can be seen taking turns at the front while Kinoshita remains a few rows behind.
Still on the flat stretch before the final two climbs, the peloton is successful and the group of 12 is caught. Immediately, Tesfatsion goes for another attack, followed by Vendrame, Quita and Rojas – a very active first race for Karthago, and a strong one so far.
No other team wanted to take responsibility for the chase, so it fell to top favorite Lutsenko himself to take a long turn at the front. Finally, lieutenant Yates takes over, but that looked like it cost the Kazakh some effort …
At the foot of the final climb, the quartet is brought back. It’s McCarthy himself who closes the final gap. Langellotti, Kinoshita and Simon Yates are close behind him, as are Lutsenko, Joel Yates and a trio of Tafjord riders around Blouwe.
Karthago still isn’t done enriching this race and with 6 kilometers to go, Rojas is at it again. Vendrame also hasn’t had enough, while Yates has so far held himself back – this is the moment he chooses to get in on the action.
It wasn’t the right move yet, as Rojas and Vendrame quickly fade, not a surprise after their earlier attacks. Then, on the penultimate climb, Kinoshita sets his first attack of the day, followed by Quita and, trying again, Yates.
Kinoshita, despite not necessarily being known for it, rides a tremendous downhill and enters the final 2.5 kilometers with a 14 second gap on Quita and Yates. They in turn have 10 seconds on a group of 15 led by McCarthy, Rojas, Vogt and Joel Yates.
Kinoshita is struggling a bit and all chasers edge closer. To the surprise of many, but certainly not all, De Gendt for the first time all day shows his face near the front, right behind McCarthy. Lutsenko seems to have recovered a bit on the right.
The three original attackers are still in the lead as they near the flamme rouge. Lutsenko takes over the chase and more and more riders are falling behind. Lienhard and Velasco are two names we haven’t heard yet today, they’re fighting to get into the Top 10, looking for a great team result for Deutsche WindGuard in their debut, with leader Quita still out ahead.
Following Turgis and Vendrame, those two Deutsche WindGuard riders lose contact in the final kilometer, though, leaving nine riders ahead of them. Fighting for the win, as of now, are still Kinoshita, Quita and Yates - Lutsenko can’t seem to close the gap!
500 meters for the leading trio. They have been looking like they’re running on empty for 2 kilometers now, does any one of them have one more acceleration in them?
Quita tries it …
… and it’s close, but Kinoshita holds on! The legendary puncheur makes a dream comeback to the CT circuit and gives Fincantieri - Grand Seiko their dream debut!
Quita still underscores Deutsche WindGuard’s ambitions here, and he makes it a 1-2 for new teams! JEWA TIROL’s expected promotion campaign is also off to a good start with Yates in third place.
Lutsenko will have hoped for more than 4th place here, but he will get plenty chances to score wins over the course of the season. And for Air New Zealand-Prada, the result is made much, much more palatable by Yates’ super strong ride to finish 5th. Then it’s McCarthy in 6th ahead of three of the more surprising riders today, Rojas in 7th, De Gendt in 8th, and Blouwe in 9th place.
Velasco and Lienhard really make it three Deutsche WindGuard riders in the Top 11, what a team effort. Vendrame, the best PCT rider of the day, will finish 12th, he seemed to have great legs but was perhaps a bit too active too early. Next are Turgis and, the next PCT finisher, Orosco, who had a strong final climb.
For a moment, it looked like more was possible for Tafjord, but adding Svab in 15th and Kanepejs in 20th to Blouwe’s 9th place still makes it a successful day for them. Between the former two, we have Verschaeve, Kirsch, Covi and Rumac (yes, a 4th DWG rider in the Top 20). A decent return for PCT teams Peugeot and Lierse in their first C2 outing, even if not spectacular.
Vogt ultimately finishes 21st as the best dev team rider, then Langellotti leads the next big group over the line. The leadership question that some had regarding this Fincantieri hill squad seems to have been emphatically answered today.
Azman in 24th is a bit of a disappointment – though somewhat predicted by those checking the stamina stats –, but at least he scored a couple of points, in contrast to some other ambitious riders. DeNA might be a bit worried by Glivar’s outing finishing 33rd, and Banco Vaticano’s efforts were not rewarded by Mayer, who ended up in 63rd place. But the season is still long, and other races will follow that suit all of them better.
For now, let’s give it up one more time for Tomohiro Kinoshita, the winner of the 2026 Clasico San Jose!
Clasico San Jose 
