Remco Evenepoel made history when he became the youngest rider to win the Clasica San Sebastian today. Photo: Bettini Photo
Teenager Remco Evenepoel secured a “dream come true” victory at the 227km Clasica San Sebastian in Spain today.
The 19-year-old, who was stunned by his unexpected success, finished the 39th edition of the event in 5:44:27 to take his first WorldTour one-day race win.
“I’ll be honest, it was really a dream to win this race in my career, and now I’ve done it already. It’s incredible,” said the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider, who became the youngest rider to win the event.
Evenepoel and Trek-Segafredo’s Toms Skujins broke away from the peloton within the final 20km, only for the latter to be dropped at the 218km mark.
As Skujins fell further behind, attacks started in the chasing peloton, which included race favourites Greg van Avermaet and Alejandro Valverde, but they were unable to catch Evenepoel, leaving the young Belgian to take a solo ride home.
A sprint finish, 38 seconds later, had the rest of the field competing for the final two steps on the podium.
CCC’s Van Avermaet came out on top to take second while Sunweb’s Marc Hirschi claimed third, with Movistar’s Valverde tenth.
In other news, the organisers announced earlier that defending champion and Evenepoel’s teammate, Julian Alaphilippe, who might still be feeling the effects of the recent Tour de France, had abandoned the race. No specific reasons were given in the statement.
