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Mollema triumphant at Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian

After bad luck in the Tour de France, the Dutchman wins the txapela

One of the strongest riders at the Tour de France, undone by a crash on Stage 19, Bauke Mollema (The Netherlands/Trek-Segafredo) took a well-deserved win in Saturday’s first WorldTour one-day race in three months, the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian. Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) finished third, his sixth San Sebastian podium.


The riders faced a lot of climbing over the 219-km, including the new Murgil Bidea climb peaking 8-km from the finish.


Immediately from the start in San Sebastian a sextet of fugitives rushed up the road. Moreno Moser (Italy/Cannondale-Drapac) was among the six who had 6:00 over the peloton after 20-km. Moser was first over the early Iturburu climb as Astana led the chasing pack.

After the first of two ascents of the 7.8-km, 5.8% Jaizkibel climb just over halfway through the race, the gap was down to 1:20 and the breakaway had lost a rider. A chase of 10 separated itself from the peloton but Katusha and Trek found it too high powered to let loose.

With the first climb of Arkale next, Movistar grabbed the reins of the field. The break continued to be streamlined by its speed.

On the last passage of the Jaizkebel, Astana’s Dario Cataldo (Italy) put in a dig, drawing some other aces, such as Mikel Landa (Spain/Sky) and Canadian Michael Woods (Cannondale).


However, Movistar wasn’t having any of it, and the race, except for notable riders like Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland/Sky) who went off the back, came back together on the descent.

Movistar and Katusha kept the pace high on the last ascent of the Arkale. Once Cannondale-Drapac moved to the front, Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff) fell to the back.

The battleground would be the narrow, steep Murgil Bidea, 1.8-km of 10.5% with ramps of 20%.


On the lead-up to the Murgil Bidea, Data Dimension’s Igor Anton sparked a move with 22-km to go. Unable to get clear, the surge served to animate the peloton. The whittled-down peloton crossed the finish line and set out for the 17-km circuit with the big climb.

Orica-BikeExchange and Cannondale led the bunch to the false flat at the foot of the climb. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Cannondale) launched an attack that brought out the best in Simon Yates (Great Britain/Orica) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha). Mollema led a six-man chase that tried to bring Rodriguez back.

Mollema tipped over first and a three-man chase of Rodriguez, Valverde and 2013 winner Tony Gallopin (France/Lotto-Soudal) saw the gap grow. With 5-km to go, the Dutchman had 11-seconds over the trio.

After the descent, the gap shrank. Valverde put in a big effort to make the juncture. But when Mollema went under the red kite he had 10-seconds. Second place in 2014, Mollema held his lead and took the victory, his greatest one-day race triumph. In a post-race interview Mollema said he was pleased to get the winner’s “Basque hat”, the big beret called the txapela.

Woods was top Canadian in 61st.


2016 Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
1) Bauke Mollema (The Netherlands/Trek-Segafredo) 5:31:00
2) Tony Gallopin (France/Lotto-Soudal) +0:05
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) s.t
4) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) +0:22
5) Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC) +0:34
61) Michael Woods (Canada/Cannondale-Drapac) +3:48
74) Hugo Houle (Canada/AG2R) +5:24
110) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Trek-Segafredo) +13:26