Big Names Gather in San Sebastian for Cycling Classic
The San Sebastian Cycling Classic is the biggest one-day race in Spain, the country’s only major one-day Classic. Most of the riders who made a name in the 2010 Tour de France have come to San Sebastian for the first serious race after the Tour. Runner-up Andy Schleck, fourth-place finisher Samuel Sanchez, 2009 Tour winner Carlos Barredo, and scores of riders fresh from the Tour took on this 234km race while thousands watched from the beaches.
Team Caisse d’Epargne finished 2nd in the team classification of the 2010 Tour de France thanks very much to the work of Luis Leon Sanchez, 11th place overall and Stage 9 runner-up. The Spaniard had the best day of his career on Saturday when he became the champion of San Sebastian, no doubt boosting his cards in the 2011 contract negotiations, since Caisse d’Epargne will disband at the end of the year. Sanchez has been linked to Rabobank, but has not made any comment on the subject.
"It's nice to win such an important race on such a demanding and long course, the new route made the race much tougher and more selective," said Sanchez.
Sanchez, the 2009 winner of the Paris-Nice, benefitted from a hillier San Sebastian route, which for the first time, included two climbs of the 7.8km Jaizkibel, as well as two climbs of the Arkale in the final third of the course. He attacked at the second pass of the Jaizkibel and formed a gap from the peloton with Alexandre Vinokourov, who won the 13th Stage of the Tour, and Carlos Sastre, who finished the Tour 20th overall.
"The key moment of the race was over the Jaizkibel, that's when the move formed and the race was virtually decided,” said Sanchez. “I found the strength to pull hard with Sastre and Vinokourov and we stay away. Vino showed he had very good legs and I had to hold on hard to make sure he didn't get away on that last little climb. But I managed it."
Vinokourov led out the sprint while Sanchez saved his energy for a final jump into the lead in the last 100m, proving that his strength lies in shorter races and the Classics, rather than the Grand Tours.
"Although I didn’t have a great race, I finished the Tour de France in good shape. This victory is a reward for good work of the team and motivates me for the rest of the season," said Sanchez.
Tour runner-up Andy Schleck abandoned the race at 120km, shortly before the early breakaway was caught by a group led by Jose Ivan Gutierrez. The winning trio took over after the Jaizkibel, chased unsuccessfully by Alexander Kolobnev and Samuel Sanchez. Vinokourov set a pace which weeded out all but ten riders, including Tour de France top-10 finishers Joaquin Rodriguez, Ryder Hesjedal, and Robert Gesink.
It was clear early on that the tired Sastre would be happy with any podium spot, and after all but the three leaders had fallen to over 20 seconds behind, it was clear that Vinokourov and Sanchez would be sprinting for the win.
"I am really happy to achieve this podium after all the bad luck I’ve had this season,” said Sastre. “Two trips over the Jaizkibel makes this race a lot more realistic for me and I had good sensations throughout the race. The team did a great job to protect me in the first passage over the Jaizkibel. The legs responded when they needed to. I had some cramps in the final kilometers, but I am very satisfied.”
The trio finished with the same time. Haimar Zubeldia, for Team RadioShack, jumped ahead of the chasers to finish fourth. Rodriguez finished 5th at the head of the chase group.
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