Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) soloed to the win in the Clasica San Sebastain after bridging with Rodriguez to Nieve at the summit of the final climb before dropping them to ride the final 2km on his own.

Adam Yates and Bauke Mollema had made it to Rodriguez and Nieve but the young Brit crashed while pursuing Valverde, leaving Mollema to outsprint Rodriguez and Nieve for second.

The riders faced a tough day in the saddle at the Clasica San Sebastian, Spain’s biggest one-day race. They had to ride 215km of fast roads, featuring two ascents of the first category Alto de Jaizkibel and 2 ascents of the second category Alto de Arkale as well as the steep Tontorra climb, which summits just 7.3km from the line. Some of the pre-race favourites included Valverde, Albasini, Gallopin, Rodriguez, Mollema, Bardet, Sagan and Gilbert.

Early Attacks Go

5 men attacked at the 5km mark: Mas (Caja Rural), Lutsenko (Astana), Stamsnijder (Giant), van Baarle (Garmin) and Cimolai (Lampre). But the move was soon brough back just 7km later. Then 7 riders attacked at 12km mark: Mas, Cimolai, Lutsenko, Dillier (BMC), Koch (Cannondale), Pate (Sky) and Janse van Rensburg (Giant). However, the peloton did not like the idea of such a big group going and brought it nack by the 20km mark.

Txurruka goes solo

Just as the hostilities had calmed down, Amets Txurruka of Caja Rural attacked and no one followed him. The peloton were more than happy to let him go and by the 47th kilometer, he had 6:15 on the bunch.

Gilbert abandons

BMC’s Philippe Gilbert, a pre-race favourite, abandoned the race with 143km remaining. Gilbert was forced to pull out from starting the Tour de Wallonie last week with a respiratory infection, but he assured fans he would be fit for today’s race, where he is a previous winner in 2011, but he is clearly not back to full fitness yet.

Movistar set the tempo

As soon as Txurruka attacked, Movistar went to the front of the bunch to keep things together for their leader Alejandro Valverde. However, they received help from both AG2R, working for Bardet, and Orica Greenedge , who have multiple options for this race. Txurruka’s gap was still holding at around 6:30.

Txurruka falters on the Jaizkibel

Txurruka was clearly struggling on the first ascent of the first category Jaizkibel (7.8km at 5.8%) as he crested the summit of the climb at 94km to go with just a 3:26 advantage, meaning the peloton halved his advantage on one climb. Txurruka still has two ascents of the Arkale to go, as well as one more trip up the Jaizkibel in addition to the tough finale that encludes the steep climb to the Hotel San Sebastian.

Sagan abandons as the peloton goes over the Arkale

Peter Sagan has climbed off the bike as the peloton has crested the summit of the Arkale for the first time. He was a favourite for today but many people still believed the course was too hard for him after a hard Tour de France. Movistar had now reduced Txurruka’s gap to just 2:30 with 70km to go.

Txurruka caught on the Jaizkibel

Txurruka has been swallowed up on the opening slopes of the Jaizkibel as Igor Anton came to the front to apply pressure for Movistar.

David Lopez attacks

Sky’s David Lopez attackec halfway up the Jaizkibel. He initially dragged a Tinkoff-Saxo and Omega Pharma rider with him but they decided to drop back to the bunch and leave Lopez out on his own. Meanwhile, Simon Gerrans was dropped from the bunch. He has Simon Yates, Vasil Kiriyenka and a few others for company. Visconti (Movistar), Montaguti (AG2R) and De Marchi (Cannondale) joined Lopez and they had about 25 seconds on the bunch when they bridged to Lopez at the top of the climb.

3 men give chase

On the descent of the Jaizkibel, Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin), Jan Bakelants (OPQS) and Alberto Losada (Katusha) broke free and set off after the 4 men up ahead. The junction was made at 45km to go. Meanwhile, Franck Schleck had a mechanical in the main bunch. The new 7-man break’s gap was 48 seconds. Gerrans has come back to the bunch.

Gap shrinks as break hit the Arkale

Under the pressure of Orica and Trek, the breakaway’s gap has shrunk to just 10 seconds on the opening slopes of the Arkale (2.7km at 6.3%).

Albasini attacks

Orica has Simon Gerrans riding at the front and this was why: Albasini has launched himself from the bunch and immediately makes it over to the breakaway. But the impetus has gone and everything is back together at the summit of the Arkale. 30km remained at this point with one more climb to go.

Grivko goes

As the peloton passed under the 25km to go banner, Astana’s Andriy Grivko attacked. Movistar reorganised themselves at the front and Grivko’s gap levelled at around 30 seconds. The final classified climb of the Tontorra lasts 2.5km at (% with a 20% maximum gradient and tops out at the Hotel San Sebastian with 7.3km to go before a long descent to finish. This should be where the final attacks are made. Grivko held a 10 second advantage heading into the final circuit.

Back together at the foot of the final climb

Grivko was captured just before the start of the Tontorra. As soon as the riders hit the climb, Katusha’s Kolobnev attacked and Michael Albasini and Mikel Nieve (Sky) gave chase. Nieve dropped Albasini and passed Kolobnev but Valverde and Rodriguez attacked and passed him just before the summit.

Yates and Mollema join Nieve

Bauke Mollema (Belkin) and Adam Yates (Orica) made it up to Nieve and chased the two Spaniards down the descent. Yates was chasing Valverde who had opened up a few bike lengths when he cam into a corner too hot and crashed. This left the remaining trio to fruitlessly chase Valverde to the line where he would take a memorable win by 14 seconds. Mollema won the sprint for second ahead of Rodriguez with Nieve in fourth. Defending champion Gallopin rounded out the top 5, finishing 26 seconds down.