Giulio Ciccone triumphs in the "Clasica" of San Sebastián

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) won the 44th edition of the ‘Clasica’ of San Sebastiàn, or ‘Klasikoa’ in Basque (a traditional World Tour event in early August), 18 years after Italy&#8217s last success in this test, with Leonardo Bertagnolli.

Second place went to UAE’s Swiss Jan Christen, who was the last to resist Ciccone’s forcing but arrived 9 seconds off the pace. Third at 19 seconds was Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe’s Belgian Maxim Van Gils, who won a sprint of five riders.

For Italy, it is the eighth victory in the Basque race after those of Gianni Bugno in 1991, Claudio Chiappucci in 1993, Davide Rebellin in 1997, twice Francesco Casagrande in 1998 and 1999, Paolo Bettini in 2003 and, indeed, Bertagnolli in 2007.