After an unlucky but skilled performance at the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema bounced back in style today, jumping clear just at the top of the final climb to come home with the victory. Tony Gallopin and Alejandro Valverde sprinted in behind him, the winners of two and three years ago. It was Valverde's Movistar team that set the pace early on, but he didn't take the initiative on the Murgil Bidea, with Simon Yates and Joaquím Rodríguez looking aggressive. Rodríguez was the strongest on the climb, but just didn't have enough to forge clear. He got recaptured immediately. Mollema attacked, stormed down the descent and held off the less than concerted chase from Gallopin and Valverde to take the win. Greg Van Avermaet, Simon Yates and Nicolas Roche, along with a few others, came in with another group to fill out the top ten.
| BIB | RIDER | GAP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 111 | MOLLEMA, Bauke | TFS | |
| 2 | 141 | GALLOPIN, Tony | LTS | +17" |
| 3 | 21 | VALVERDE, Alejandro | MOV | +17" |
| 4 | 61 | RODRIGUEZ, Joaquim | KAT | +22" |
| 5 | 37 | VAN AVERMAET, Greg | BMC | +34" |
| 6 | 53 | BRAMBILLA, Gianluca | EQS | +34" |
| 7 | 8 | YATES, Simon | OBE | +34" |
| 8 | 136 | SLAGTER, Tom Jelte | CDT | +34" |
| 9 | 48 | ROCHE, Nicolas | SKY | +34" |
| 10 | 162 | DEVENYNS, Dries | IAM | +37" |
-Conor
Donostia - Donostia 220.2 km
Why do they call it "San Sebastian" when it starts and finishes in Donostia? The Basques must not be very clever.
Check our full preview of who is going to win and why here.
Txirla's Hero : Dan Martin
Not sure why we do previews when Conor was quite obviously drunk like an Irishman when he picked X-XXX for the win. He was probably worried about jinxing him but I have no such powers so I can say assuredly that Dan Martin will get a payoff for his fine TdF form here. The hipster outsider pick is Davide Formolo.