Remco Evenepoel edges Pello Bilbao in thrilling two-up sprint to land third Clasica San Sebastian title

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed a record-equalling third Clasica San Sebastian title after seeing off Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) in a gripping two-up sprint.

Evenepoel whittled down a group of escapees to three on the Cat. 2 climb Mendizorrotz with 40km remaining as Bilbao and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) clung on, denying the Belgian his familiar solo charge in northern Spain.

He upped the tempo on the final ascent, the Cat. 2 Murgil-Tontorra, as Vlasov wilted and fell back. But Bilbao was looking his equal and even dropped a couple of half-attacks of his own, with the pair still together after a hair-raising descent back to the seafront.

It came down to a sprint where Evenepoel finally cracked his Basque rival before sitting up to celebrate wildly as he charged through the finish.

Evenepoel will next head to Glasgow to target a second road race title and a maiden time trial rainbow jersey at the World Championships, before heading to the Vuelta a Espana for another title defence.

He built his season around the Giro d’Italia but was forced to retire from the race due to Covid, just hours after taking the race lead.

The Belgian has been repeatedly linked with Ineos Grenadiers, who are desperate to land a GC superstar to compete with two-time Tour de France champions Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

“It’s actually funny because, from the outside, you guys know more than I do,” Evenepoel said. “So it’s some things that are going around that I’m not even aware of myself and also within my entourage, and my family doesn’t even know about all those things. So it’s things going around that I don’t even know about, which is pretty special.

“I think mentally I’m strong enough to focus on what I have to do in the summer. I mean, there’s no reason to be unhappy here. It’s all a bit of, let’s say, small b******t that is going around. Sorry for the word I didn’t know a better word to say.”