Riders gathered at the start line of the 2025 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa in San Sebastian on a chilly August morning where meteorologists had predicted overcast and rainy weather conditions until noon, where the sun would take control and warm the tarmac, though with a risk of local thunderstorms in the mountain territory where the cyclists would battle for victory in the one-day classic, which was the first notable race on the calendar since Sunday’s conclusion of the Tour de France in Paris.

Favorites to take the victory in this year’s edition of the legendary Clasica San Sebastian race included Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates. The team had sent a very strong line-up to the one-day race and Ayuso was expected to be in-form with a team captain role coming up in this year’s Vuelta a Espana. They would be supported by strong teammates such as Jay Vine and Igor Arrieta. Other favorites included Primoz Roglic (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe), last year’s winner Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Oscar Onley (Team Picnic-PostNL), while the start list also featured outsiders such as Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), and Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep).

The 2025 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa was 211.4-kilometers long and the race got off to a fast start as several teams proved interested in sending riders into the long breakaway of the day. Some with the hope of securing the race victory, some with hopes of gaining television exposure for their sponsors, and some to position team lieutenants as outposts to aid their team captains in later attacks.

After a few attacks and reel-ins, a twelve-man group established a viable lead, and it appeared the long breakaway of this year’s race had been established. The group featured Ben Swift (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Paul Double (Jayco-Alula), Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH), Anthony Delaplace (Arkea B & B Hotels), Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon-AG2R), Gil Gelders (Soudal-QuickStep), Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural Seguros RGA), Alexy Faure Prost (Intermarche-Wanty), Enzo Leijnse (Team Picnic-PostNL), Gotzon Martin (Euskaltel - Euskadi), and Darren van Bekkum.

Frenchman Alexy Faure Prost was the first rider to reach the summit of Alto de Andazarrate after twenty-eight kilometers of fast racing. He was followed by Josh Burnett, Darren van Bekkum, and the rest of the front group on the Category 3 climb. 

The twelve-rider breakaway group continued to cooperate well and had increased its advantage to two minutes with 145 kilometers remaining. The riders were approaching Urraki, which was the second categorized climb on today’s racing menu. The Category 2 climb featured sections of more than ten percent and could possibly cause the front group to get reshuffled or new attacks being launched from the main peloton, where UAE Team Emirates and Tudor riders were controlling the pace.

The front group conquered Urraki together and Faure Prost was again the first rider to reach the summit. He was followed by Labrosse and Gelders, while the main peloton kept the front group on a relatively tight leash.

With one hundred kilometers done and dusted, the front group entered Alkiza, which was the final categorized climb before the race would reenter San Sebastian for a brief while, before again exploring the surrounding mountain territory. The Category 3 climb was not expected to cause any changes to the race situation and the race favorites were still saving energy and warming up within the main peloton two minutes behind the courageous frontmen.

With Primoz Roglic eager to secure a race victory, riders from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe joined the chase work at the front of the main peloton after Faure Prost had again earned the most points for the KOM classification by crossing the summit line of Alkiza first.

The riders passed through San Sebastian and were now headed for the legendary Alto de Jaizkibel climb, where the race had often been decided before later route alterations. The riders approached the Category Two climb with 75 kilometers remaining and the main peloton had used the flat section opportunity to reduce the advantage of the front group to approximately one minute.

Van Bekkum launched an attack on the Jaizkibel and initiated a solo effort. The acceleration caused Swift, Leijnse, Martin, and Delaplace to get dropped from the break. Labrosse and Wenzel replaced Van Bekkum at the front later on the climb, while two chase groups formed behind them. 01:30 minutes separated the front duo from the main peloton.

Labrosse was solo in front when two kilometers of the Jaizkibel climb remained. Wenzel was chasing shortly behind, while the Jayco-Alula duo of Double and Plapp were chasing forty seconds back. Plapp had bravely joined the front group after bridging from the main peloton.

Frenchman Labrosse was the first rider to reach the summit of Jaizkibel, while Wenzel and Plapp were chasing 25 seconds back. Double and van Bekkum were somewhere in between the frontman and the main peloton. The riders now entered the challenging and dangerous descent. The riders passed the Virgin de Guadeloupe sanctuary and hopefully God would be on their side and any crashes avoided.

While Groupama-FDJ riders had moved to the front of the main peloton, Wenzel and Plapp caught Labrosse in the flat section that followed the descent. Fifty kilometers now remained and the effort from Groupama-FDJ had reduced the advantage of the breakaway optimists to one minute.

The riders reached the foot of Erlaitz and Primoz Roglic launched an attack. Other riders, including Isaac del Toro, responded. Erlaitz was a category One climb with a gradient of almost eleven percent, so the climb offered ample opportunity for attacking efforts.

The breakaway riders in the front group got reeled in. While strong riders continued launching attacks from the front of the main peloton on the climb, noteworthy riders such as Pello Bilbao got dropped from the rear end. Giulio Ciccone attacked with Isaac del Toro, Jan Christen, and Maxim van Gils.

Del Toro showed great initiative and only Ciccone was able to follow him. The duo was cooperating well as it approached the top of the climb, and forty kilometers of the race remained.

The Mexican rider reached the summit with Ciccone and entered the descent that followed the summit of the hard climb. Multiple strong chase groups had been established behind the duo and featured Christen, Roglic, van Gils, Neilson Powless, Tiesj Benoot, Cian Uijtdebroeks, and Christian Scaroni.

Ciccone and del Toro continued to cooperate well in front and the duo had increased its advantage to forty seconds with 33 kilometers remaining. A second chase group was 01:20 minutes behind. The riders continued on the fast descent before they would pass through San Sebastian and then target the Tontorra climb, which would be the final categorized climb of this year’s Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.

Del Toro and Ciccone remained in front when twenty kilometers remained, and the duo entered San Sebastian. At this point a nine-man group - featuring Christen, Bisiaux, Roglic, Van Gils, Powless, Benoot, Uijtdebroeks, Scaroni and Plapp – was chasing fifty seconds behind, while the main peloton was almost two minutes back with an attitude of resignation.

The front duo entered the Murgil-Tontorra climb with a lead of 34 seconds over the chase group, which was spearheaded by an ever-active Roglic. The advantage of the front group had been reduced to 23 seconds. Jan Christen attacked from the chase group and established a gap, while Roglic was unable to respond after so much hard work. Neilson Powless tried to bridge the gap to Christen but faltered. 

Christen caught Ciccone and teammate Del Toro with nine kilometers left and immediately accelerated. Ciccone responded on the tough climb.

Ciccone dropped Christen and Del Toro and proceeded solo on the category two climb. It would be downhill from the summit and into San Sebastian where the finish line awaited the exhausted riders.

Ciccone reached the summit with a lead of ten seconds over Christen. Powless had caught Del Toro and the duo was now twenty-five seconds back.

Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone continued solo in front on the descent and had a lead of eight seconds over first chaser Christen with just three kilometers to the finish line in San Sebastian.

Ciccone entered San Sebastian solo and crossed the finish line as winner of Clasica San Sebastian 2025 after a courageous and dominant performance. What an amazing result for the Lidl-Trek team. Jan Christen finished second for UAE Team Emirates, while Maxim van Gils completed the race podium for Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe. Tiesj Benoot finished fourth, Isaac del Toro fifth, and Neilson Powless sixth. Luke Plapp was the seventh rider to cross the finish line.

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