Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe were the strongest riders in the 2024 edition of the San Sebastian Klasikoa, in what felt like a throwback race from 2020. Hirschi out-sprinted Alaphilippe to secure his first World Tour victory in four years.
It was the first World Tour race following the Tour de France and the Olympics, making it difficult to predict who would emerge as the strongest riders, given the uncertainty around their form. Visma Lease a Bike controlled the pace on Jaizkibel and at the start of the steep Erlaitz climb. The team brought a strong lineup to the Basque Country, including Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Dylan van Baarle, Thomas Gloag, and Wilco Kelderman.
Before reaching Erlaitz, Brandon McNulty had already expended 3,900 kilojoules over 4 hours and 40 minutes at a rate of 12.19 kj/kg/h. It had already been a long day in the saddle before the crucial Erlaitz climb (3.71 km, 11.11%). The race ignited when Florian Lipowitz attacked with Julian Alaphilippe on his wheel. Shortly afterward, Pavel Sivakov joined the pair and quickly dropped them with his high pace. The tempo on Erlaitz exposed even strong climbers like Simon Yates and Jonas Vingegaard, who were not in peak form after the Tour de France. These two will be teammates next year on the Dutch squad.
Mikel Landa, Sepp Kuss, Dani Martinez, Giulio Ciccone, Santiago Buitrago, and other strong climbers struggled to perform in this one-day race. In the 2022 edition, Tadej Pogačar, Joao Almeida, and Juan Ayuso all failed to finish. Pogačar was distanced by Louis Vervaeke on the shallow Jaizkibel. Later in the season, Ayuso and Almeida finished 3rd and 4th in La Vuelta, while Pogačar went on to win Il Lombardia and GP Montreal.
Sivakov was the fastest climber on Erlaitz with 6.88 ᵉW/Kg for 12:31 min. The following group with 10 riders (Vermaerke, Woods, Powless, Alaphilippe, Narvaez, Van Gils, Hirschi, McNulty, Kron, Van Eetvelt) averaged 6.65 ᵉW/Kg for 12:49 min. It will be hard for anyone to break Remco Evenepoel’s mighty effort in the 2022 edition as he with almost no drafting did Erlaitz 40 seconds faster than Sivakov with 7.34 ᵉW/Kg.
Sivakov did not gain a huge lead as Lotto Dstny had three riders in the second group: Lennert van Eetvelt, Maxim van Gils, and Andreas Kron. Among the 18 riders in that group, four were Sivakov’s teammates: Jan Christen, Marc Hirschi, Brandon McNulty, and Isaac del Toro. Sivakov managed to hold a 15-second lead before the final steep Pilotegi climb (2.1 km, 10.8%), which included a final kilometer at a 14.5% gradient.
Julian Alaphilippe attacked in the first part of the climb, with Marc Hirschi, Brandon McNulty, Patrick Konrad, and Jhonatan Narvaez following. They were caught by Lennert van Eetvelt and other riders, but on the steep section, Alaphilippe and Hirschi broke away again, gaining a significant gap by the top of the climb. Alaphilippe and Hirschi pushed 7.34 – 7.38 ᵉW/kg for 6 minutes and 43 seconds, with irregular pacing.
Alaphilippe, with his twitching legs, was not tactically perfect in the finale and took over from Hirschi in the final stretch. Hirschi opened his sprint first and beat Alaphilippe, who did not attempt to draft him for a second. Van Eetvelt finished third, chasing the leading duo alone. It was Hirschi’s first World Tour victory since the 2020 La Fleche Wallonne.
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Nice to see both of them at the end. They’ve had more than their fare share of criticism. Hirschi is off to Tudor and also Alaphilippe to Israel apparently. I hope move moves work out for them.