Evenepoel overcomes strict race jury and bike change to claim record fourth San Sebastián win

Remco Evenepoel has won the Clásica San Sebastián for a fourth time. The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider started as the overwhelming favourite after finishing second in the Tour de France and winning three previous editions of the Basque Classic, but a bike change and a strict race jury ensured it was far from straightforward. Evenepoel nevertheless managed to make the difference before beating Richard Carapaz in a two-up sprint.

Just six days after the Tour de France finished in Paris—and on the same day that the Tour de France Femmes began—it was already time for the next WorldTour race on the calendar: the Clásica San Sebastián. The 2026 edition of the prestigious one-day race once again attracted a strong field, headed by Evenepoel, who had finished second at the Tour and had already won the Basque Classic three times.

Other riders to watch included Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek, Matteo Jorgenson and Ben Tulett of Visma | Lease a Bike, Giulio Pellizzari and Maxim Van Gils of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost, Jhonatan Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla, Christian Scaroni of XDS Astana and Basque favourites Ion Izagirre and Pello Bilbao.

An eight-rider breakaway formed relatively quickly after the start. Visma | Lease a Bike was represented by Tim Rex, who was joined by Nicolas Alustiza of Euskaltel, Joan Bou of Caja Rural, Iñigo Elosegui of Equipo Kern Pharma, Valentin Ferron of Cofidis, Adne Holter of Uno-X, Lorenzo Quartucci of Burgos and Pinarello-Q36.5 rider Nicholas Zukowsky.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe immediately took responsibility in the peloton and worked to prevent the eight leaders from establishing an unmanageable advantage. The gap fell from three minutes to two, and the pace increased on the third climb of the day, the brutally steep Urraki. That acceleration did not last long, however, and by the halfway point, the breakaway had once again extended its advantage to more than three minutes.

After almost 140 kilometres of racing, the situation remained largely unchanged as the riders crossed the finish line for the first time. From that point onwards, however, the race was expected to explode. The Jaizkibel and Erlaitz, the two major climbs that traditionally shape the finale, were rapidly approaching. Bart Lemmen of Visma | Lease a Bike chose that moment to attack from the peloton alongside EF Education-EasyPost duo Sean Quinn and Michael Leonard.

That move prompted further attacks, with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe sending Maxim Van Gils across to the chasing group. UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Jay Vine joined him. By the summit of the Jaizkibel, the different groups were gradually beginning to come back together, with the original breakaway, the chasers and the peloton all separated by less than half a minute.

With the first of the two decisive climbs completed, attention turned towards the Erlaitz. Evenepoel was forced onto the defensive before the peloton reached it, however, after suffering a puncture and subsequently changing bikes. To make matters worse, a race commissaire prevented him from using the line of team cars to return through the convoy by drafting behind the vehicles. As a result, Evenepoel had to chase the fast-moving peloton entirely on his own.

Evenepoel had still not rejoined the front of the race on the exceptionally steep Erlaitz, where the leading favourites had already caught every member of the early breakaway and all the counter-attackers. Jan Christen opened the hostilities for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, while Visma | Lease a Bike responded once again through Louis Barré. Defending champion Giulio Ciccone was present for Lidl-Trek, while EF Education-EasyPost had Tour de France star Richard Carapaz near the front.

An elite group of ten riders had formed by the summit, with Evenepoel still approximately half a minute behind. It appeared to be the perfect opportunity to eliminate the Belgian from contention, but the riders in the leading group were unwilling to cooperate. Evenepoel first reached a chasing group before Van Gils helped pace him all the way back to the front. The peloton eventually grew again to include more than 40 riders.

The riders still had to cross the finish line for a second time before taking on the Murgil, a climb measuring just over two kilometres at an average gradient of approximately ten per cent. Van Gils once again set the tempo for Evenepoel, who had not started the climb in an ideal position. Once he reached the front, the Belgian launched his attack. Carapaz was the only rider capable of following him, putting two of the Tour de France’s leading protagonists at the head of the race. The chasing group, however, was not far behind.

Their advantage over the group was reasonably substantial at the summit, although Ciccone and Barré were still hoping to bridge across. With the aerodynamic Evenepoel driving the pace at the front, that quickly became an impossible task. The race therefore came down to a two-up sprint between the Belgian and Carapaz, and Evenepoel was simply too strong. He raised one, two, three and finally four fingers in celebration: Remco Evenepoel is now the outright record holder in San Sebastián.