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After 2020 cancellation Clásica San Sebastian returns with van Vleuten victory

Dutch ace triumphs three days after winning Olympic Games time trial gold

July 31, 2021
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Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the second women’s version of the Clásica San Sebastian in Spain’s Basque country, but on Saturday, the WorldTour race returned with a classic win from Tokyo Olympic Games road silver medalist and time trial gold medalist Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar.

The Course

The legendary Jaizkibel climb was the first of three ascents in the final third of the 139.89 km race. Next came Gurutze peaking with 31 km to race and the brutal little Murgil (2 km of 9.9 percent) cresting with 8 km to go.

These were the Women’s WorldTour winners so far going back to March.

Strade Bianche: Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (The Netherlands/SX Worx)
Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy/Trek-Segafredo)
Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne: Grace Brown (Australia/Bike Exchange)
Gent-Wevelgem: Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma)
Tour of Flanders: van Vleuten (The Netherlands/Movistar)
Amstel Gold Race: Vos
La Fleche Wallonne: Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands/SD Worx)
Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/SD Worx)
Vuelta a Burgos Feminas: van der Breggen
La Course by Le Tour de France: Vollering

After ten rounds, Demi Vollering led the individual standing by 35 points over van Vleuten and 87 points over Vos. SD Worx was way ahead of Movistar in the team standings—SD Worx even had the leader of the youth standings in Kiwi Niamh Fisher-Black.

Movistar wound it up for van Vleuten on the Murgil, and she attacked to overtake the only rider up the road, Trek-Segafredo Audrey Cordon-Ragot, who had bolted just before the climb. With Cordon-Ragot’ teammate Ruth Winder in hot pursuit, van Vleuten almost lost it on the descent, but she hung tough and wore the victory txapela, the traditional Basque beret.

The next round of the Women’s WorldTour is the stage race Tour of Norway from August 15-18.

2021 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa
1) Annemiek van Vleuten (The Netherlands/Movistar) 3:53:37
2) Ruth Winder (U.S.A./Trek-Segafredo) +0:36
3) Tatiana Guderzo (Italy/Alé BTC Ljubljana) +1:35