The San Sebastián classic put on the screen the most recognizable monuments of Gipuzkoa during 211 kilometers of pure agony, in the style of the great classics. A test that is synonymous with memorable battles thanks to a very attractive route, with a lot of mountain and emblematic peaks -seis in total. All sweetened by an enthusiastic hobby that is part of the emotional landscape of the cycling tests of the the Basque Countrya territory that believes in sport as a tool for cohesion, equality and collective development. And a 'klasika' that since its birth in 1981 is part of the shared memory between generations, with indelible memories of cyclists such as Marino Lejarreta, Davide Rebellin, Claudio Chiappucci or Laurent Jalabert. This year's victory of Giulio Cicconeafter fighting a nice duel with Isaac del Torowill also be part of that perpetual memory.
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After linking the sinuous ramps to crown the 'Mendatea' of the Jaizkibelpushed by a hobby that did not stop encouraging and pulling from the first to the last, the cyclists entered another dimension. The descent led them to the most beautiful citywhich received the career adorned with green flags that remembered that it was not just Saturday, it was the big day of the Hondarribia flagwith the traineras populating the bay of Txingudi, the colored houses dominating the historic center and hundreds of people queuing to taste the pintxos star Michelín del Gran Sol.
There were cyclists who had been housed in Hondarribia To prepare one of the most decisive stretches of the race that, after abandoning amute orchards, set up to Ledge. A mountain that is reached by a road built by thousands of workers forced by Franco during the postwar period. Roads that were screened with a military logic, in which cars are barely circulating and that are a paradise for cyclists. At this point, the escape starring Luke Plap It was neutralized by the persecuting group commanded by Primoz Roglicwhile Juan Ayuso I lost bellows and stayed off. The race reached a stage where everything was already an individual job.
After another vertiginous descent in which ISSAC DEL TORO launched a brave attack to put up with Giulio Cicconethe squad went through Oiartzun, the people of the remembered Txomin Perurenaone of the three great Spanish cyclists of the 70s with Luis Ocaña and El Taragu, José Manuel Fuente. The cyclist who triumphed in the Kas of Dalmacio Langarica based on attacking every day because there were no small races and left 158 victories to the memory -the most in Spain.
Pasiaia, Miracruz, Ategorrieta, Gros, the road became a counterreloj circuit with Mount Igueldo in the background announcing one last top, the murgile, before the final arrival in San Sebastián. On both sides of the road, thousands of fans did not stop cheeringas was the case a week ago at the end of the Tour de France in Paris.
In the lead, DEL TORO AND CICCONE They maintained a minute advantage that seemed unattainable for the persecutors. But on the last top, Of the bull He faltered, the UAE launched Jan Christensen From the second persecutor group to clothe and Ciccone responded with a definitive attack that ended the aspirations of the UAE cyclists. Precisely, the Italian at all times had the support of its team director, the Gipuzkoano Markel Irizargreat connoisseur of the land. In the final kilometers, as they pass through Ondarreta and the shell, people left their towels and went into mass to applaud. The Donostiarra boulevard was filled with thousands of fans who praised the heroic effort in an incomparable framework next to the town hall and with a podium located on the front line in which Giulio Ciccone The txapela was wrapped with the entire Bay of the backshell. A San Sebastián classic which represents the essence of a territory that loves cycling and that for its own merits has built its own monument.
