2023 Clásica de San Sebastián - Donostia (World Tour), Spain
42nd edition: Saturday, July 29, 2023
Classica San Sebastian podium history | 2022 edition | 2024 edition | Race map & profile | Photos | Start list
Donostia - Donostia (Basque for the city of San Sebastián), 230.3 km
Remco Evenepoel wins the Clásica San Sebastián for the third time and the second time in a row. Photo: Getty Sport
Les Woodland's book Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years is available in the print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Weather at start/finish city of San Sebastián at 2:00 PM, local time: 26C (78F), sunny, with the wind from the northeast at 11 km/hr (7 mph). There is a 1% chance of rain.
The race course: Retired Basque racer Roberto Laiseka writes: Clásica San Sebastián 2023 will be longer and returns to a very tough finish. The first part will follow the Gipuzkoa coast and is mostly flat. An ideal location for the day’s breakaway.
The second part climbs Alkiza (Cat. 3), Jaizkibel (Cat. 2) and Erlaitz (Cat. 1). These will serve to separate the hay from the chaff and decide the outcome of the race. Erlaitz is further away from the finish line this year, and it’s anyone’s guess if it will host another epic attack.
The riders cross the finish line before tackling Mendizorrotz and Murgil (Cat. 2). Murgil is short but has very tough ramps that will decide the favourites. After the second pass through Murgil it’s only 8 kilometres to the finish, so starting the climb in a good position will be key. After the descent from Igeldo, it’s flat to the finish line.
The race: Winner in 2019 and 2022 Remco Evenepoel crashed, but was quickly up and racing and appeared to be fine. Not long after that Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) crashed and abandoned. He was believed to be OK, but was taken to the hospital to check him over and make sure.
Here's the race report from third-place Aleksandr Vlasov's Team Bora-hansgrohe:
Over a tough 230 kilometres, this year's race featured seven categorised climbs with a total of more than 4,000 meters of elevation gain. The terrain of the Basque classic was thus predestined for the somewhat punchier climbers in the peloton. On the ascent of the third-last climb, Vlasov managed to jump into the leading group containing Evenepoel, which quickly gained more than a minute advantage over the main field. Vlasov, Evenepoel and Bilbao took on the final climb over three minutes ahead of the chasing group and it became evident that the winner would come from this leading trio.
Shortly before the summit, however, the BORA - hansgrohe rider found himself in difficulties and had to fall back slightly. In the end, Evenepoel took out the win while Vlasov reached the finish line in third place.
“Today was a good result, I didn't race since May, but I'm feeling good and it's great to take a result on the podium. I'd like to continue like this, and the next big goal is of course the Vuelta, so I'm looking forward to that. Thanks to the team for positioning me well today in the key points, it's great to be back racing with them. Now it's full focus ahead!” - Aleksandr Vlasov
"We approached the San Sebastian Classic with some uncertainty because the guys came here either after a long break from racing or, like Bob for example, straight after the Tour. Aleks rode his last race at the Giro, but he felt very good today and the team tried to support him when the race went into the mountains, where Evenepoel finally attacked. Aleks was able to keep up quite well, but unfortunately he couldn't keep up with Evenepoel and Bilbao on the final climb. But as far as I know, his podium finish is the best result we have ever achieved as a team in this race. Of course you always hope to win from a group of three, but this result is still a very good re-entry for Aleks." - Rolf Aldag, Sports Director
Content continues below the ads
Complete Results:
230.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.748 km/hr
| 1 | Remco Evenepoel | Soudal Quick-Step | 5hr 30min 59sec |
| 2 | Pello Bilbao | Bahrain Victorious | @ s.t. |
| 3 | Aleksandr Vlasov | BORA-hansgrohe | 0:28 |
| 4 | Neilson Powless | EF Education-EasyPost | 2:50 |
| 5 | Ion Izagirre | Cofidis | 2:57 |
| 6 | Toms Skujins | Lidl-Trek | 3:02 |
| 7 | Alex Aranburu | Movistar | s.t. |
| 8 | Rui Costa | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
| 9 | Andrea Bagioli | Soudal Quick-Step | s.t. |
| 10 | Tiesj Benoot | Jumbo-Visma | s.t. |
| 11 | Juan Ayuso | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 12 | Alberto Bettiol | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
| 13 | Marc Hirschi | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 14 | Clément Champoussin | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 15 | Carlos Rodriguez | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 16 | Jason Osborne | Alpecin-Deceuninck | s.t. |
| 17 | Mikel Landa | Bahrain Victorious | s.t. |
| 18 | Chris Harper | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
| 19 | Jakob Fuglsang | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 20 | Felix Gall | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 21 | Kevin Vermaerke | dsm-firmenich | 3:41 |
| 22 | Harry Sweeny | Lotto Dstny | 3:50 |
| 23 | George Bennett | UAE Team Emirates | 3:59 |
| 24 | Pablo Castrillo | Equipo Kern Pharma | s.t. |
| 25 | Nathan Van Hooydonck | Jumbo-Visma | 6:36 |
| 26 | Gorka Izagirre | Movistar | 7:07 |
| 27 | Iván García | Movistar | 7:12 |
| 28 | Simone Velasco | Astana Qazaqstan | s.t. |
| 29 | Alex Baudin | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 30 | Lorenzo Rota | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
| 31 | Alexey Lutsenko | Astana Qazaqstan | 7:15 |
| 32 | Guillaume Martin | Cofidis | 7:21 |
| 33 | Kenny Elissonde | Lidl-Trek | 8:13 |
| 34 | Urko Berrade | Equipo Kern Pharma | 8:41 |
| 35 | Joan Bou | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 9:24 |
| 36 | Rudy Molard | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 37 | Abel Balderstone | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | s.t. |
| 38 | Romain Bardet | dsm-firmenich | s.t. |
| 39 | Michal Schlegel | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | s.t. |
| 40 | Mauri Vansevenant | Soudal Quick-Step | s.t. |
| 41 | Welay Berhe | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
| 42 | Florian Stork | dsm-firmenich | s.t. |
| 43 | Anthony Delaplace | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 44 | Clément Berthet | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 45 | Ben Healy | EF Education-EasyPost | 9:29 |
| 46 | Roger Adriá | Equipo Kern Pharma | 10:35 |
| 47 | Matthew Dinham | dsm-firmenich | 10:40 |
| 48 | Julien Bernard | Lidl-Trek | 11:39 |
| 49 | Gijs Leemreize | Jumbo-Visma | s.t. |
| 50 | Bauke Mollema | Lidl-Trek | s.t. |
| 51 | Miquel Delgado | Equipo Kern Pharma | 12:30 |
| 52 | Eduardo Sepulveda | Lotto Dstny | s.t. |
| 53 | Johannes Adamietz | Lotto Dstny | s.t. |
| 54 | Kristian Sbaragli | Alpecin-Deceuninck | s.t. |
| 55 | Simon Clarke | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 56 | Fabio Felline | Astana Qazaqstan | s.t. |
| 57 | Diego Ulissi | UAE Team Emirates | 13:23 |
| 58 | Reuben Thompson | Groupama-FDJ | 13:27 |
| 59 | Alan Jousseaume | TotalEnergies | s.t. |
| 60 | Jokin Murguialday | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 14:05 |
| 61 | Santiago Buitrago | Bahrain Victorious | s.t. |
| 62 | Stephen Williams | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 63 | Frederik Wandahl | BORA-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 64 | Rigoberto Uran | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
| 65 | Mikel Iturria | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 15:55 |
| 66 | Joel Nicolau | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 17:35 |
| 67 | Jan Maas | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
| 68 | Mario Aparicio | Burgos-BH | s.t. |
| 69 | Matteo Fabbro | BORA-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 70 | Aimé De Gendt | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
| 71 | Fernando Barceló | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | s.t. |
| 72 | Jhonnatan Narvaez | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 73 | Romain Grégoire | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 74 | Maximilian Schachmann | BORA-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 75 | Lars Van Den Berg | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 76 | Domen Novak | UAE Team Emirates | 18:45 |
| 77 | Ibai Azurmendi | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 19:53 |
| 78 | Ander Okamika | Burgos-BH | 20:00 |
| 79 | Ivan Romeo | Movistar | s.t. |
| 80 | Omer Goldstein | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
| 81 | Eric Fagundez | Burgos-BH | s.t. |
| 82 | Ibon Ruiz | Equipo Kern Pharma | s.t. |
| 83 | Julen Amezqueta | Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | s.t. |
| 84 | Chris Hamilton | dsm-firmenich | s.t. |
| 85 | Felix Engelhardt | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
| 86 | Thomas Gloag | Jumbo-Visma | s.t. |
| 87 | Jose Herrada | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 88 | Xabier Berasategi | Euskaltel-Euskadi | s.t. |
| 89 | Victor De La Parte | TotalEnergies | s.t. |
| 90 | Andreas Leknessund | dsm-firmenich | s.t. |
| 91 | Alessandro Covi | UAE Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 92 | Txomin Juaristi | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 20:55 |
| 93 | Marco Brenner | dsm-firmenich | 21:15 |
| 94 | Odd Christian Eiking | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
| 95 | Liam Slock | Lotto Dstny | 27:34 |
| 96 | Yuriy Natarov | Astana Qazaqstan | s.t. |
| 97 | Ben Turner | INEOS Grenadiers | 33:00 |
| 98 | Clément Alleno | Burgos-BH | s.t. |
Content continues below the ads
Content continues below the ads
Clasica de San Sebastián photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:
Team Jumbo-Visma is presented before the race start.
Team Groupama-FDJ
Team Bora-hansgrohe
Team Lotto Dstny
Pello Bilbao finished second
Biniam Girmay crashed out early in the race.
Time to head to the start line.
The race begins.
Nice shot of the peloton
Kenny Elissonde on the Mendizorrotz climb.
Ben Healy
Neilson Powless
Remco Evenepoel in the peloton. You have to eat when you can.
Remco Evenpoel wins the race for the third time.
Pello Bilbao looks less than thrilled with how the race turned out.
Winner Remco Evenpoel with three-time (1981, '82, & '87) San Sebastian winner Marino Lejarreta
The 2023 San Sebastian podium, from the left: PEllo Bilbao (2nd), Remco Evenepoel (1st) & Aleksandr Vlasov (3rd).
Start list, July 28, 2023:
| SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | |
| 1 | Remco Evenepoel |
| 2 | Andrea Bagioli |
| 3 | Julian Alaphilippe |
| 4 | James Knox |
| 5 | Remi Cavagna |
| 6 | Pieter Serry |
| 7 | Mauri Vansevenant |
| AG2R-CITROEN TEAM | |
| 11 | Alex Baudin |
| 12 | Clément Berthet |
| 13 | Franck Bonnamour |
| 14 | Ben O'Connor |
| 15 | Felix Gall |
| 16 | Nicolas Prodhomme |
| 17 | Damien Touzé |
| ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK | |
| 21 | Quinten Hermans |
| 22 | Kristian Sbaragli |
| 23 | Gianni Vermeersch |
| 24 | Jason Osborne |
| 25 | Xandro Meurisse |
| 26 | Jimmy Janssens |
| 27 | Tobias Bayer |
| TEAM ARKÉA-SAMSIC | |
| 31 | Elie Gesbert |
| 32 | Louis Barré |
| 33 | Clément Champoussin |
| 34 | Anthony Delaplace |
| 35 | Thibault Guernalec |
| 36 | Simon Guglielmi |
| 37 | Alessandro Verre |
| ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM | |
| 41 | Alexey Lutsenko |
| 42 | Yuriy Natarov |
| 43 | Leonardo Basso |
| 44 | Fabio Felline |
| 45 | Javier Romo |
| 46 | Harold Tejada |
| 47 | Simone Velasco |
| BORA-HANSGROHE | |
| 51 | Bob Jungels |
| 52 | Ide Schelling |
| 53 | Frederik Wandahl |
| 54 | Matteo Fabbro |
| 55 | Nico Denz |
| 56 | Maximilian Schachmann |
| 57 | Aleksandr Vlasov |
| COFIDIS | |
| 61 | Ion Izagirre |
| 62 | Thomas Champion |
| 63 | Alexandre Delettre |
| 64 | Guillaume Martin |
| 65 | Jose Herrada |
| 66 | Benjamin Thomas |
| 67 | André Carvalho |
| TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH | |
| 71 | Romain Bardet |
| 72 | Matthew Dinham |
| 73 | Chris Hamilton |
| 74 | Andreas Leknessund |
| 75 | Florian Stork |
| 76 | Marco Brenner |
| 77 | Kevin Vermaerke |
| EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST | |
| 81 | Neilson Powless |
| 82 | Ben Healy |
| 83 | Alberto Bettiol |
| 84 | Simon Carr |
| 85 | Andrea Piccolo |
| 86 | Rigoberto Uran |
| 87 | Odd Christian Eiking |
| GROUPAMA-FDJ | |
| 91 | Bruno Armirail |
| 92 | Romain Grégoire |
| 93 | Matthieu Ladagnous |
| 94 | Reuben Thompson |
| 95 | Rudy Molard |
| 96 | Quentin Pacher |
| 97 | Lars Van Den Berg |
| INTERMARCHÉ-CIRCUS-WANTY | |
| 101 | Rui Costa |
| 102 | Biniam Girmay |
| 103 | Laurens Huys |
| 104 | Aimé De Gendt |
| 105 | Lorenzo Rota |
| 106 | Loic Vliegen |
| 107 | Georg Zimmermann |
| INEOS GRENADIERS | |
| 111 | Carlos Rodriguez |
| 112 | Jhonnatan Narvaez |
| 113 | Brandon Rivera |
| 114 | Omar Fraile |
| 115 | Ben Tulett |
| 116 | Lucas Plapp |
| 117 | Ben Turner |
| MOVISTAR TEAM | |
| 121 | Alex Aranburu |
| 122 | Iván García |
| 123 | Ivan Romeo |
| 124 | Lluis Mas |
| 125 | José Rojas |
| 126 | Ivan Sosa |
| 127 | Gorka Izagirre |
| Jayco-AlUla | |
| 131 | Michael Matthews |
| 132 | Welay Berhe |
| 133 | Jan Maas |
| 134 | Felix Engelhardt |
| 135 | Chris Harper |
| 136 | Alessandro De Marchi |
| 137 | Lawson Craddock |
| BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | |
| 141 | Pello Bilbao |
| 142 | Mikel Landa |
| 143 | Santiago Buitrago |
| 144 | Yukiya Arashiro |
| 145 | Jonathan Milan |
| 146 | Edoardo Zambanini |
| 147 | Johan Price |
| LIDL-TREK | |
| 151 | Tony Gallopin |
| 152 | Julien Bernard |
| 153 | Kenny Elissonde |
| 154 | Bauke Mollema |
| 155 | Marc Brustenga |
| 156 | Mathias Vacek |
| 157 | Toms Skujins |
| JUMBO-VISMA | |
| 161 | Tiesj Benoot |
| 162 | Edoardo Affini |
| 163 | Lennard Hofstede |
| 164 | Thomas Gloag |
| 165 | Gijs Leemreize |
| 166 | Timo Roosen |
| 167 | Nathan Van Hooydonck |
| UAE TEAM EMIRATES | |
| 171 | Juan Ayuso |
| 172 | Sjoerd Bax |
| 173 | George Bennett |
| 174 | Domen Novak |
| 175 | Alessandro Covi |
| 176 | Marc Hirschi |
| 177 | Diego Ulissi |
| BURGOS-BH | |
| 181 | Ander Okamika |
| 182 | Jose Manuel Diaz |
| 183 | Eric Fagundez |
| 184 | Camilo Ardila |
| 185 | Victor Langellotti |
| 186 | Mario Aparicio |
| 187 | Clément Alleno |
| CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | |
| 191 | Fernando Barceló |
| 192 | Jokin Murguialday |
| 193 | Joel Nicolau |
| 194 | Abel Balderstone |
| 195 | Michal Schlegel |
| 196 | Julen Amezqueta |
| 197 | Josu Etxeberria |
| EQUIPO KERN PHARMA | |
| 201 | Roger Adriá |
| 202 | Urko Berrade |
| 203 | Pablo Castrillo |
| 204 | Iñigo Elosegui |
| 205 | Jordi Lopez |
| 206 | Miquel Pau |
| 207 | Ibon Ruiz |
| EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI | |
| 211 | Xabier Isasa |
| 212 | Txomin Juaristi |
| 213 | Ibai Azurmendi |
| 214 | Xabier Azparren |
| 215 | Mikel Iturria |
| 216 | Xabier Berasategi |
| 217 | Joan Bou |
| TOTALENERGIES | |
| 221 | Mathieu Burgaudeau |
| 222 | Jérémy Cabot |
| 223 | Victor De La Parte |
| 224 | Fabien Grellier |
| 225 | Alan Jousseaume |
| 226 | Pierre Latour |
| 227 | Mattéo Vercher |
| LOTTO DSTNY | |
| 231 | Johannes Adamietz |
| 232 | Arjen Livyns |
| 233 | Mathijs Paasschens |
| 234 | Eduardo Sepulveda |
| 235 | Liam Slock |
| 236 | Harry Sweeny |
| 237 | Jarrad Drizners |
| ISRAEL-PREMIER TECH | |
| 241 | Mads Schmidt |
| 242 | Jakob Fuglsang |
| 243 | Omer Goldstein |
| 244 | Nick Schultz |
| 245 | Dylan Teuns |
| 246 | Stephen Williams |
| 247 | Simon Clarke |