It wasn't until the Tour ended and I had a day to relax and then some time to check out the logistics that I realized I'd be able to catch the 34th Clásica San Sebastián. I had a little time to check out the surf town ahead of the race.
A map might tell you that geographically this is Spain but any local (and all of the barricades) will let you know you're in Basque Country here.
Morning preparations.
The first people to arrive were some pubescent boys and a few older guys. And me. Yup, the usual suspects.
The riders arrived as complete teams to be presented to the fans. There's usually one or two riders on any given team I'm keen to see, so I was excited that my first autograph came from Julian Kern of AG2R. I met him at a few races in Belgium and the Netherlands last year and he was pretty surprised to see me at the Grand Prix races in Quebec so it's probably not a huge surprise that he remembered me.
Katusha. Rodriguez got a big round of applause.
Lawson Craddock (below, far right) was so happy to hear my accent that he shouted with surprise, “Americans!” When I corrected him that I'm from further north, he pretended to walk off in a huff and pocket my marker. We also had a short talk about fantasy football. My brother has joined a league put together by Craddock and Garmin's Nate Brown so we discussed who might win, concluding it probably wouldn't be either Craddock or Hermano.
The other Giant rider I hoped to see was Simon Geschke (waving). He said he's looking forward to the GOCQM again so I'm happy to welcome him to Canada!
It was a conveyor belt with riders climbing one stage to sign on and then waiting to be presented alongside their teammates at the second stage.
Garmin.
Andre Cardoso.
Basque rider Mikel Nieve and Javier Aramendia.
Cannondale signing on.
I asked all of the riders who were at the Tour if they'd recovered yet and they all said a resounding, “No!” I don't blame them!
Movistar was the penultimate team to be presented as they waited for Alejandro Valverde. When he showed up, his teammates all teased him and gave him a hard time.
I half wondered if Tinkoff Saxo would end up racing today since they showed up at the absolute last minute. Even the UCI commissaire kept looking at his watch agitatedly and craning his neck to see if they were coming.
Once Tinkoff was taken care of, I made my way towards the start line. Below: Steven Kruijswijk and Simon Gerrans.
Valverde.
Lachlan Morton.
Caja Rural lined up at the front.
Alessandro De Marchi and Maciej Bodnar.
Somewhere in the distance, a gym teacher's whistle blew and the riders were off.
The peloton was gone in no time but a few riders were late! This trio rounded the corner casually and all looked at each other with surprise when they realized the race had started without them.
They weren't the only ones who failed to keep an eye on the clock. Yukiya Arashiro and one of his teammates, along with several Sky riders (Mikel Nieve, below) crossed the start line when their colleagues were already a couple of minutes up the road!
I didn't catch most of what the announcer said (it was largely in Basque with smatterings of Spanish), but he was very entertaining and I definitely heard him promise chocolate churros to the crowd for the following day. Too bad I'll be gone by then!
With at least 4 hours until the peloton returned to town, I tried my best to be a tourist. I went to the beach but couldn't enjoy it. Who can relax at the beach when there's a race going on?! Instead I went to the vegatarian cafe and got a chocolate banana smoothie and checked for race updates on twitter.
I hung out for awhile with a photographer friend and then parked myself just beyond the finish line where I tried to protect myself from getting assaulted by this umbrella with mixed results.
Do you remember the photos of the time keepers' booth at the Tour de France? With its dozen screens recording and updating the race? Clásica San Sebastián operates on a much more humble budget and the time keepers sat in this tent with their backs to the race.
By 4pm, a solid crowd amassed, ready to see the riders pass the finish line once before completing a final 15km urban lap.
Six minutes' worth of vehicles whizzed by before the yellow Mavic neutral service car signaled the race was nigh.
Andriy Grivko had escaped but by no more than thirty some seconds.
Katusha led the arrow of the peloton with Movistar driving hard on the near side.
Jesus Herrada.
David Arroyo was among the riders dropped.
Every minute or so, another bunch would roll through.
The OPQS boys did not look too stressed to be so many minutes off the pace.
The 4 man Geschke group was several minutes back.
The grupetto was close to 9 minutes behind.
Watching the race from a screen, the emcee was phenomenally entertaining, even if it was in a language completely foreign to me. I'd grab the names as he said them and try to piece the last kilometers together and occasionally he'd give a Spanish or English update.
Alejandro Valverde, Joaquin Rodriguez, Bauke Mollema, Adam Yates, and Mikel Nieve had all gone on the attack with Valverde and Rodriguez pulling away. Their lead was never enormous but it was enough that no one could bridge to them.
Yates ended up crashing at some point so was out of the runnings as Valverde and Rodriguez cooperated and put time into their opponents.
In the final kilometers, Valverde dug deep to a attack once more, this time leaving his compatriot behind for good.
With 75 meters to go, Valverde looked over his shoulders and saw that he was utterly alone. He swerved across the road as he gained his composure and started celebrating with 50 meters to go.
Valverde claimed his fourth podium and second win at the Clásica San Sebastián.
Just 14 seconds behind, Mollema out sprinted Rodriguez for second place with Nieve in fourth.
I watched a quarter of the riders finish before hustling to the podium.
The first award went to Miguel Indurain, a 5 time Tour de France champion and winner of the 1990 edition of Clásica San Sebastián.
The winner of San Sebastián wins an embroidered, oversized beret in the Basque style.
Valverde brought his son on the podium to receive his trophy and hat.
The was conducted in Basque, a language I do not even pretend to speak. I can't tell you the order of things, but my best guess is that Amets Txurruka, who was called to the podium 3 times, won the prizes for longest escape, combativity, and intermediate sprints.
Mikel Nieve had 2 trips to the podium which I believe were to claim his prizes for best climber and best Basque rider. (It's a good thing all of the award categories were listed in the race book, otherwise I'd have been totally lost!)
Nieve's face brightened considerably when he spotted this woman alongside his loved ones in the crowd. (Any guesses as to what the shirt says?)
I'm going to assume this was Valverde's dad. He was beaming. I don't think it was just from the champagne.
Nieve came over, his arms stuffed with flowers and trophies handed out by the most miserable looking podium hostesses I've seen at a race.
I'm sorry to say that I got distracted by Nieve and his sea of flowers, so I missed Jan Polanc receiving his award but to be honest, I truly haven't the slightest idea what it was for. Best Jan?
Txurruka had passed off his flowers to this kid who was probsbly struggling to find oxygen in there.
Over at the buses, most teams had pulled away. AG2R had a pile of luggage ready to go.
As usual, a crowd materialized out of nowhere when the a podium finisher showed up.
Meanwhile, these guys practiced teamwork to take a photos of Rodriguez's well documented saddle.
Getting autographs at a one day race is tricky, especially when each team rolls out together, so I'm quite pleased with today's 25 autographs from 7 Jelle Vanendert, 11 Zdenek Stybar, Danish national champion 32 Michael Andersen, 43 Hubert Dupont, 45 Julien Kern, 48 Rinaldo Nocentini, 51 Joaquin Rodriguez, 71 Bauke Mollema, 72 Laurens Ten Dam, 73 Lars Boom, 76 Steven Kruijswijk, 87 Danny Pate, 91 Haimar Zubeldia, 93 Eugenio Alafaci, 97 Boy Van Poppel, 108 Rafael Valls, 114 Matt Hayman, 121 Andre Cardoso, 124 Lachlan Morton, 127 Dylan Van Baarle, 131 Simon Geschke, 132 Lawson Craddock, 138 Tom Stamsnijder, 163 Kenny Elissonde, and 181 David Arroyo.
