After 10th in the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema was on the hunt again in today's Clásica San Sebastián in Spain. The Belkin Pro Cycling Team rider in green and black helped lead the chase into the finish and sprinted to the head of his group for second place, 14 seconds behind a solo of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

"We worked together well," Mollema said to the Belkin website, “but Valverde was just too strong.”

The Dutchman shot free with a pack of strong men on the final Bordako Tontorra climb. He and the others were ready to play for the win 7.4 kilometres later along the coast, but 2008 winner Valverde left his rivals midway down the descent just before rival Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) crashed.

Mollema and the others were left to chase, but at times it appeared they did not have enough manpower. Valverde had 13 seconds with one kilometre to race and gave only one choice to his rivals: fight for second.

"In the second part of the descent, Valverde got 50 metres on us and another 50 after Yates crashed. That was enough for Valverde," added Mollema. "In the last kilometre, I just thought about at least getting second place."

The Dutch team in San Sebastián came from the Tour de France and the Tour de Wallonie, but all had the goal of winning the race.

Laurens ten Dam, who also carried his form over from the Tour de France, attacked on the Jaizkibel with 40 kilometres remaining to bridge to a group of four. He and two others made it over, but could not rest easy as the group was right behind.

"Bauke was for the final and Laurens attacked on the climb, it was a good situation for us," Sports Director Jan Boven said. "If you have man up the road, it's always better because it takes the pressure off your leader behind.

"It wasn't just Laurens, though; the whole team did a great job. Including guys like Jonathan Hivert."

Though the win just escaped the Team Belkin, it will have more chances as its other teams start the Tour of Utah and Tour of Poland this week. Mollema takes a break and returns in the Eneco Tour.