Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) outsmarted and out-muscled UAE Emirates-XRG to solo to victory in a thrilling two-against-one battle to close out the Donostia San Sebastián.
UAE looked to have the numbers in the 211km race in hot, humid conditions Saturday when Isaac del Toro powered into pole position on the penultimate climb to follow the attacking Italian.
“I never expected to win today, because I haven’t raced in two months,” the Italian said. “The legs felt good and I kept pushing. It was hard to follow Del Toro but I knew I had to try. To win here is truly beautiful.”
In a surprise, Del Toro — who’s been lighting up races since his comeback last month — collapsed on the final Cat. 2 Murgil with 8km to go, just as teammate Jan Christen bridged across from the lead chase group.
Christen went straight past, but the Italian had the gas to grab his wheel. The Italian countered and dropped everyone on the technical descent and urban streets of San Sebastián to solo home in the closing 8km to fend off the chasing Christen by a fistful of seconds.
Ciccone — racing for the first time since crashing out of the Giro in May — was over the moon with his first one-day WorldTour win of his career.
“After the crash in the Giro it was not easy to continue with the same morale, mentally it was a really hard moment for me,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t expect that I was able to win already today, but I’m really happy to have these legs and the same shape I had in the Giro before the crash.”
Wild finale: ‘I decided to go full gas’
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) got things started with a searing attack at 45km to go that split the bunch.
Hitting the Cat. 1 Erlaitz climb, Ciccone saw that he was outnumbered by UAE and Red Bull jerseys, so he attacked, with only Del Toro able to follow. The pair worked together over the top of Erlaitz and held about a 1 minute gap to the chasing group going into the final 18km loop.
The Cat. 2 Murgil climb proved decisive, with Ciccone refusing to pull with Del Toro when he saw UAE’s Christen bridging across. The Lidl-Trek rider countered and then soloed home for the win.
“I think that was the moment where I took the decision to go full gas,” he said of Murgil. “I saw Del Toro dropping and Christen was coming from the back so this was the moment to try. I think in the end it was the right decision.”
Former winner Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) gave chase for the final podium spot, but Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) hit out for third, with Powless kicking to sixth.
Ciccone, Del Toro and others race next at the Vuelta a Burgos (August 5-9) in a key test ahead of the Vuelta a España.