Clásica San Sebastián

Donostia to Donostia, 234km/145mi

By Cathy Mehl

Making his comeback to racing since suffering a broken wrist in June’s Critérium du Dauphiné, Team RadioShack’s Haimar Zubeldia joined an all-star field on Saturday to ride the Clásica San Sebastián near his Basque homeland.  Part of a 10-man breakaway that gapped the main field with 40km to go, Zubeldia showed his time away from racing has not meant time off the bike.  Although not part of the final selection of three riders, Zubeldia jumped from the chasing group to claim fourth place behind a trio of leaders.  Winning the race was Spanish rider Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne), followed by Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Carlos Sastre of Cervelo.

Team Director Alain Gallopin commented on today’s action, saying, “Haimar was a very clever rider in the final.  This was a good race for him and his first since the crash in the Dauphiné.  You could see the difference between the riders who did the Tour and the others.  We can expect a nice rest of the reason from Haimar in his upcoming races – Ain, Plouay, Poitou-Charentes, Quebec.  The Team did a good job for Haimar and Levi,” he concluded.   

It was a hilly course for the 168 riders, many of them less than a week out of the Tour de France.  Clear skies and warm sunshine made for good racing conditions in San Sebastián.  A breakaway of three riders built a time advantage of more than eight minutes before the real racing action started on the climbs of the Alto de Jaizkibel and the Alto di Arkale.  With the peloton tackling each climb twice, it didn’t take long for the overall favorites to shake up the race.  The first time over the Arkale the leaders were Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), José Ivan Gutiérrez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Juan Manuel Gárate (Rabobank), but as the main field approached the Jaizkibel for the second and final lap, attacks split the race apart.

Vinokourov, Nicholas Roche, Sanchez and Sastre broke away with Robert Gesink (Rabobank) heading up the chasing group some 18 seconds behind.  Zubeldia joined this group as it swelled to ten strong.  Over the Arkale for the last time it was Vinokourov, Sanchez and Sastre leading the charge on the 15km  descent back into Donostia.  Zubeldia’s chasing group worked well together but never could close the gap as the leading trio put up a tremendous effort to stay away.  At just over 3km to go Vino tried to ride away but Sanchez brought him back, distancing Sastre in the process.  The two went under the red kite together but were soon caught by Sastre and the three made their way for the line.  The two Spaniards forced Vinokourov to lead and when he tried to sprint for the line, Sanchez came around and took the win with time to raise his arms in victory.

The Tour of Poland starts tomorrow and Team RadioShack are well represented by Fumiyuki Beppu, Ben Hermans, Daryl Impey, Tiago Machado, Sébastien Rosseler, Ivan Rovny, Bjørn Selander & Tomas Vaitkus with Directors Viatcheslav Ekimov and José Azevedo to guide their efforts.  The seven-day stage race runs through August 7th.  Meanwhile the Team will also be racing the Tour of Denmark starting on Wednesday, August 4th.

Top Ten Results

1  SÁNCHEZ, Luis León ESP  GCE  5:47:13

2  VINOKOUROV, Alexander KAZ AST      

3  SASTRE, Carlos  ESP  CTT            

4  ZUBELDIA, Haimar  ESP  RSH    a 34

5  RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin                 ESP KAT a 37

6  HESJEDAL, Ryder  CAN  GRM a 37

7  GESINK, Robert  NED                 RAB  a 37

8  ROCHE, Nicholas  IRL ALM  a 37

9  SÁNCHEZ, Samuel  ESP  EUS  a 37

10  PORTE, Richie  AUS  SAX  a 37

Team RadioShack Results

38  LEIPHEIMER, Levi  USA  a 3:43

63  IRIZAR, Markel   ESP  a 9:44

69 RUBIERA, José Luis  ESP  a 11:59

DNF  MCCARTNEY, Jason  USA    

DNF  BUSCHE, Matthew USA     

DNF  LEQUATRE, Geoffroy FRA

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson