Clásica San Sebastián 2023 (July 29th)

[Andre]

Against who exactly? Did anyone expect anyone else to win this thing? The field was hardly stellar

"hardly stellar!? Here we go with the excuses:
Bilbalo
Vlasov
O'Connor
Felix Gall
Schachmann
Landa
Ayuso
Bardet
Powless
Rodriguez
Benoot
Hirschi

 

[Gratemans]

"hardly stellar!? Here we go with the excuses:
Bilbalo
Vlasov
O'Connor
Felix Gall
Schachmann
Landa
Ayuso
Bardet
Powless
Rodriguez
Benoot
Hirschi

That's hardly a very impressive list on this course tbh. Anyway, CSS is the same every year: those coming off the Tour can say they're tired, those working toward Vuelta can say they're still on their way to peak form. Everybody has got an excuse!
I get your point though, and I believe dazaau is trolling.
Solid and deserved win.



He won't win the Vuelta though

 

[dazaau]

That's hardly a very impressive list on this course tbh. Anyway, CSS is the same every year: those coming off the Tour can say they're tired, those working toward Vuelta can say they're still on their way to peak form. Everybody has got an excuse!
I get your point though, and I believe dazaau is trolling.
Solid and deserved win.



He won't win the Vuelta though

It was a good win. But Remco is clearly in the top tier of riders, and they were not present here. Further, almost all the big names on that list have just finished a really hard raced tour.

If Remco had been dropped by anyone in that list the remco thread would have a mini meltdown

In any case he was the favorite and he won. I am not sure how everyone "underestimated" him.

 

[Nick2413]

Strong win despite not dropping Bilbao. Thanks to Bilbao for making it a little more interesting than the usual 40k Remco solo. Kind of a boring race when Remco rides it but can’t blame him for being so good.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

That's hardly a very impressive list on this course tbh. Anyway, CSS is the same every year: those coming off the Tour can say they're tired, those working toward Vuelta can say they're still on their way to peak form. Everybody has got an excuse!
I get your point though, and I believe dazaau is trolling.
Solid and deserved win.

Hardly a very impressive list on this course? Seems quite comparable to the field that Pogacar beat in last year's Lombardia. And yet i can't remember having read anybody make the claim that that was an underwhelming startlist. Or did you think beating Vingegaard, the man who has never won a race over 200km, made it more of a feat? Here is the top 20 of the 2022 Lombardia:

1	POGAČAR Tadej	UAE Team Emirates	500	275	6:21:22
2	MAS Enric	Movistar Team	400	200	,,
3	LANDA Mikel	Bahrain - Victorious	325	150	0:10
4	HIGUITA Sergio	BORA - hansgrohe	275	120	0:52
5	RODRÍGUEZ Carlos	INEOS Grenadiers	225	100	,,
6	VALVERDE Alejandro	Movistar Team	175	90	1:24
7	MOLLEMA Bauke	Trek - Segafredo	150	80	,,
8	MOLARD Rudy	Groupama - FDJ	125	70	,,
9	BARDET Romain	Team DSM	100	60	,,
10	YATES Adam	INEOS Grenadiers	85	50	1:26
11	PICCOLO Andrea	EF Education-EasyPost	70	46	1:58
12	BARGUIL Warren	Team Arkéa Samsic	60	42	,,
13	VAN WILDER Ilan	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	50	38	,,
14	BERTHET Clément	AG2R Citroën Team	40	34	,,
15	CICCONE Giulio	Trek - Segafredo	35	30	2:01
16	VINGEGAARD Jonas	Jumbo-Visma	30	28	2:03
17	MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe	INEOS Grenadiers	30	26	2:14
18	VLASOV Aleksandr	BORA - hansgrohe	30	24	,,
19	HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	30	22	,,
20	VANSEVENANT Mauri	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	30	20	,,

I mean, i understand it's a running gag, a meme, to say Evenepoel only wins races when there is no opposition. Or that they let him win. Or that they didn't care. But to see serious posters actually buy into this is quite funny.

 

[rghysens]

Would depend on what the final number you want to reach is.

The original poster was talking about professional victories, and afaik Merckx got 445. But that´s open for debate, apparantly.

 

[iBanesto]

Bilbao...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I always automatically think people called Osborne were born in Australia

I bet you were surprised when you learned the Black Sabbath guy wasn't called Aussie Osborne.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hardly a very impressive list on this course? Seems quite comparable to the field that Pogacar beat in last year's Lombardia. And yet i can't remember having read anybody make the claim that that was an underwhelming startlist. Or did you think beating Vingegaard, the man who has never won a race over 200km, made it more of a feat? Here is the top 20 of the 2022 Lombardia:



I mean, i understand it's a running gag, a meme, to say Evenepoel only wins races when there is no opposition. Or that they let him win. Or that they didn't care. But to see serious posters actually buy into this is quite funny.

Tbh Remco didn't face an absolutely flying Mas, but thats about it. This year CSS was pretty mid in terms of what you can expect from the startlist, neither super good nor super bad, and Remco can't control that anyways.

 

[Red Rick]

CSS field was a bit better than last year I think.

Pogacar does get fewer questions about field strength but that's also because he's already presumed to be the top dog in these races after cleaning everyone in 2021 in Liege and Lombardia.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Jason Osborne finishes 16th in Clasica San Sebastian… WTF?!… That is incredible…

Of course I noticed he‘s really good, and he is also really motivated for every race he rides - but 16th in Clasica San Sebastian? That is almost crazy!…

Big congratulations on this great result… Very, very impressive!…

Excuse me, this is one of the numerous Remco threads. Could you please take this comment to the Jason Osborne thread. (Yeah, I know, he doesn't have one) but still.

 

[shadowrider]

That's completely ignoring the fact that he has worked very hard on his sprint the past 2 years, and that Colbrelli is not Bilbao (or vice versa). A reasonable take could be that he wasn't able to drop him within the watts he was willing to push with the WCC coming up. I'm not convinced he could have dropped Bilbao eitherway but it's not completely unthinkable is it. Bilbao was definitely suffering right before Vlasov cracked.

But Vlasov was dropped when Bilbao toke the lead on the climb for a few seconds.

 

[Netserk]

The more impressive part of Pogi winning Lombardia was how he managed to reach a high enough level to do so at the end of a long season. It's no given that you can win Tirreno and Liège in the spring, the Tour in summer, and then win Lombardia with a de-facto 35 km solo against Rogla, Valverde, Ala, Yates.

 

[Salvarani]

"hardly stellar!? Here we go with the excuses:
Bilbalo
Vlasov
O'Connor
Felix Gall
Schachmann
Landa
Ayuso
Bardet
Powless
Rodriguez
Benoot
Hirschi

This list doesnt say much. Looks pretty standard for a WT-race.

Most of these guys also raced the Tour. Some guys can keep or even increase their form shortly after a GT, but some may lose it also.

Schachmann probably doesnt need to be on these type of lists anymore either. He cant compete these days and hasnt for some time.

 

[shadowrider]

Way to go to reach his "grand tour" weight. Observing his face, hips and legs, it was bodywise the Evenepoel when winning the Clasica in 2019. Ideal for the rather short, but steep climbs of the Clasica. Power and punch needed. He still has to lose another 1 to 1,5 kilograms till the start of the Vuelta. Not that easy with the road worlds in a week and the worlds TT (power needed) a few days later...... Evenepoel will have to wait till the end of the worlds (TT) to start his diet. So, Evenepoel has exactly two weeks time to achieve his ideal weight mission.

 

[Red Rick]

The more impressive part of Pogi winning Lombardia was how he managed to reach a high enough level to do so at the end of a long season. It's no given that you can win Tirreno and Liège in the spring, the Tour in summer, and then win Lombardia with a de-facto 35 km solo against Rogla, Valverde, Ala, Yates.

It does come back to noone peaking that late in the season. He has better endurance than that lot, and I think a lot of guys tend to take what they can that late in the season and fly a little bit too hard in races like Emilia, Milan Torino (RIP) and then come up short in Lombardia.

It's not like you can confidently claim Roglic showed the same levelin Lombardia as the other two Italian fall classics that year.

 

[shadowrider]

An interesting fact to note is that when Remco is involved in these races, he absolutely obliterates the peloton.

Haters are saying that this is a bad performance because he dropped all bar one man in the race. The one remaining rival was subsequently beaten in the sprint.

The man launched it again from way out which very few have the strength or courage to do. Just look at the the gaps he creates.

I've analysed the time gaps in San Sebastian over the last decade between 1st and 5th position.

2014- 26secs
2015- 16secs
2016- 34secs
2017- 2secs
2018- 16secs
2019- 38secs
2020- Covid
2021- 1min
2022- 3mins 11secs
2023- 2mins 57secs

The last two years Remco has been on a different planet to the rest of the field. In this form and in this type of race, I think only Vingegaard or Pogacar could have a chance of beating him.

Let's just appreciate this special talent who now goes down in history as the joint record holder on 3 wins. Chapeau Remco!

He was slightly less than last year. With the form of 2022 he would have dropped Bilbao too. If this was planned, OK.
If not, a little concern.

 

[Netserk]

It does come back to noone peaking that late in the season. He has better endurance than that lot, and I think a lot of guys tend to take what they can that late in the season and fly a little bit too hard in races like Emilia, Milan Torino (RIP) and then come up short in Lombardia.

It's not like you can confidently claim Roglic showed the same levelin Lombardia as the other two Italian fall classics that year.

Yes, it's very difficult to bring a high level to Lombardia when your main aims are elsewhere. I think that makes his victories more impressive.

 

[Red Rick]

Yes, it's very difficult to bring a high level to Lombardia when your main aims are elsewhere. I think that makes his victories more impressive.

It makes it more impressive when others make Lombardia their main aim for a long period of time. Nobody really does that.

You may argue that going throught the Vuelta is the preferable path for a good Italian fall, that's about it. But Tour-Vuelta-Lombardia is still hard.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

He was slightly less than last year. With the form of 2022 he would have dropped Bilbao too. If this was planned, OK.
If not, a little concern.

I think Bilbao gets underestimated. He's just outside the Big 5 for certain races.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Excuse me, this is one of the numerous Remco threads. Could you please take this comment to the Jason Osborne thread. (Yeah, I know, he doesn't have one) but still.

Are people talking about the winner of the race in the race thread? The guy who won the race 3 out of 3 times and is joint recordholder? You should report those people for off topic posting ASAP. Maybe just summon @Red Rick immediately!

More seriously though, comparing Evenepoel's Strava of the past two editions, Erlaitz was climbed 62 seconds slower than last year (when it was closer to the finish and when he attacked earlier on the climb). The steep section of Tontorra's final passage was climbed 8 seconds faster this year, but last year he was already solo for 30+km at that point and didn't need to go all out with a huge lead either.

Klasikoa Donostia 2023 🥇🏆 - Remco E.'s 227.7 km bike ride

3 out of 3 😍🙏🏼 Wolfpack mentality 😈👊🏼

www.strava.com

San Sebastian 2022 🤩🥇 - Remco E.'s 221.7 km bike ride

Thanks to the team and everybody behind this victory! Grande Erlaitz 🤩🔥

www.strava.com

 

[Unchained]

Strong win despite not dropping Bilbao. Thanks to Bilbao for making it a little more interesting than the usual 40k Remco solo. Kind of a boring race when Remco rides it but can’t blame him for being so good.

I think you posted what thousands of people watching thought

 

[Rob5091]

Cows caused crash at San Sebastain -
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-suffers-freak-crash-at-clasica-san-sebastian

The Clásica San Sebastián had a hard moment in the broadcast as Simon Gugliemi crashed in a descent and appeared badly injured. The Frenchman escaped with "only" a few bruises throughout his body, it has afterwards been revealed that a cow caused his crash.

"In a very fast bend to the right there were suddenly two cows on the road, one on the left and one on the right. A motorcycle hit the right cow, causing an Arkéa Samsic rider to fall hard to the ground," Astana Qazaqstan Team rider Simone Velasco told Tuttobiciweb. "I avoided the worst in a fraction of a second."

The Frenchman however didn't. After a Tour de France where he showed good form he was one of the cards for Arkéa Samsic to play in the Basque classic, however his chances were left on the road after a freak accident when the animals crossed the road.

"I think of the cow that crossed the road, hopefully it didn't break anything either," Gugliemi joked.