Note: in the replay I had some issues with the green circle. Even though I could remove it while playing the race, it didn't work at all both the times I ran the replay. Sorry for that...
A particularly humid air and an almost non-existent wind is what everyone dreams to find when you want to go for a swim. Definitely that’s not ideal if you’re going out for a 232 kms long ride. That must be too bad for the 192 riders who are taking part today to the Clasica San Sebastian, one of the most prestigious Spanish classics.
Not even the time to set off, and 3 riders already try to break away from the pack! It’s Bulgac, Joeaar and Lund I’m talking about.
The three of them are soon joined by 4 others, Anton Martin, Araujo, Ferrari and Jim.
The group doesn’t want to let them go that easily though, and they never get to have a good advantage. Therefore, the 5 or so kilometers of TV time for the first breakaway are surrounded by constant, futile attacks.
They eventually give up and get caught by the peloton. A few minutes later the first serious attack takes shape. 5 riders try to escape and they immediately seem to have a good harmony:
Bernas Livramento Maldonado Naud Pozzo
At the head of the group we can now find Kenya Airways, Prio and TomTom’s domestiques, working for their respective leaders, trying to limit the gap of the morning break which got close to 6’ by now.
The pace doesn’t seem to be that great though and with the first 2 bumps behind us, no riders have been dropped by the pack yet.
As we approach the next ascent, inevitably a gruppetto of 20 can’t hold on anymore, mainly thanks to the pace that the usual suspects are imposing.
Strangely enough in the meantime, an interesting tactic is shown by RBC’s riders. Even though Naud is in the break they’re working hard to trim down the gap. Hopefully there’s a valid reason behind this move...
As we reach the top of the climb the situation doesn’t change a lot in the group, but thanks to Anderson’s and Armee’s hard work the advantage of the 5-men break is now down to just about 3 minutes.
Fast forward to the Jaizkibel and 4 riders try to escape from the group now that it’s easy to bridge the gap.
Dan Craven in fact carried away a group of 4, being joined by Boswell, Mehr-Wenige and Meyer.
Considering the danger, the group doesn’t trust them and 2 Gazelle domestiques immediately start relaying to catch them.
Immediately after, Betancourt alone tries his luck but doesn’t succeed either.
Meanwhile, the Jaizkibel climb is done and dusted for the day and the riders can start breathing again. Naturally, thanks to the previous attacks, the gap is now down to about 1’ and the group slows down for a few moments, until they reach the feet of the next climb.
In fact, a duo led by last year’s winner Cesare Di Maggio and Hassen Ben Nasser take the chance and violently attacks. The move is coldly received by the group, clearly caught off guard by the 2 of them. 3 riders decide to try to follow the bold attackers, identifying the attack as a potential winning move.
These are Hoogerland, Reimer and Vakoc.
The two are too strong for the 3 chasers though and they are now relaying to try to catch the head of the race, which only has about a 200 metres gap.
Gazelle seems to be all over this though! The powerful Benelux-based team has a lot of options and clearly can’t afford to make the race fade away like that. The gap is slowly but steadily being filled up.
But still some riders manage to escape and they are now seriously threatening the main group! The chasers' group which was previously formed by Hoogerland, Reimer and Vakoc is now joined by 3 more riders: Bellis, Meyer and Prevar.
In the meantime, Di Maggio and Ben Nasser couldn’t bridge the gap with the breakaway and thus Mattia Pozzo decides it’s time to attack if he wants to win the race! The rest of the initial breakaway now gives up as none of them tries to catch him.
Here's a quick recap with less than 15 kms to go:
P
E4
E3
E2
E1
Hoogerland
Di Maggio
Bernas
Pozzo
Reimer
Ben Nasser
Livramento
Vakoc
Maldonado
Bellis
Naud
Meyer
But it soon changes thanks to Gazelle, once again. The blue and yellow-dressed riders caught everyone but the first 3 incredibly quickly and are getting really close to the two right in front of them.
As Di Maggio and Ben Nasser finally catch the rest of the breakaway, they’re eventually caught by the main group. Pozzo is now the only rider in front of the peloton!
But look, it’s not over yet! Just when you’d think the race is over, Travis Meyer attacks with a bit less than 5 kms to go! Pozzo still has about 20” on the bunch but can’t consider himself the winner for sure. He now doesn’t look that brilliant anymore and Travis Meyer is visibly gaining on him!
The rest of the contenders don’t want to be left empty-handed and now a stubborn Oleksandr Prevar tries to follow the Aussie.
Meyer can’t resist anymore now because of the million attacks he tried recently and is soon caught by a flying Prevar, who is now targeting Mattia Pozzo. The latter deserves a proper recognition for what he did, it’s not easy to get caught with less than 1 km to go after being more than 220 kms in the break!
As you can see though the Ukrainian can’t be that sure about his win either as multiple riders are closing the gap from behind! Among those, two Gazelle riders and van der Hugenhaben, one of the pre-race big favorites.
Pozzo doesn’t seem to give up that easily and could still finish in the top 10!
Prevar just overtook him but more impressively Daniel Oss is sprinting twice as fast as the Ukrainian!
Pozzo gave all he had and now basically stops, while Oss seems capable of taking it in great style! The Italian is now just less than a bike length away from the Ukrainian.
But let’s not underestimate Carlos Betancourt, who comes from far far behind and unleashed all his power in the final sprint!
Who will take the prestigious Clasica San Sebastian? Will Gazelle’s unbelievable team work be reward? Or will Prevar partially save Chernobyl’s shattering season? Less than 25 meters to go and the situation looks like this:
And it’s Oleksandr Prevar today’s winner! Perhaps 10 more meters would have been enough for Oss to complete his unseen come back, but all that counts is that the Ukranian was the strongest, under a tactical point of view.
Carlos Betancourt, Gazelle’s other rider Blaz Furdi in 4th and Boswell in 5th. This is what you would call a bitter-sweet day for Gazelle!
Mattia Pozzo eventually managed to hold on to 8th, but still can’t make up for the win that has just been taken away from him.
Some seconds later today’s big favorite Di Maggio crosses the line, visibly disappointed by himself, after last year’s dominating win. Along with him, Hassen Ben Nasser comes to the finish as well. Both stayed very close to each other since their attack.
After that everyone arrived, today’s winner Prevar can finally enjoy his win on the podium.
