Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa 2023 - Stats

Stats on Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa 2023

The 43rd edition of Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa (aka Bauke Mollema Classic) is raced on Saturday July 29th. Who won this classic most often? What is the best preparation for the race? This blog will cover statistics on the race that is traditionally organized a week or two after the Tour de France. Will Remco Evenepoel, who is the outright favorite, for the third time in Basque Country? And how to rate that performance?

By Daniël (@StatsOnCycling)

Haimar Zubeldia is Mister San Sebastian

With 16 starts and finishes in his home-race is Haimar Zubeldia is Mister San Sebastian, and he will remain so for some years. The active rider with most starts is Bauke Mollema with his 12th start in 2023. Mollema is contracted dat Lidl-Trek until 2026 and could possibly end at 25 participations. Between 1994 and 2006 Michael Boogerd took part in San Sebastian 11 times. Zubeldia finished 5 times in the top-10 of the only summer-classic, his best result being 4th in 2010.

Most podiums for Valverde

At half of his finishes (12), Valverde finished on the podium in San Sebastian: 2 wins and 6 top-3s in total. Only Lejarreta (3 wins in 1981-82-87) is close to the palmares of El Imbatibo in San Sebastian. Bauke Mollema and Davide Rebellin both have 4 podium-results. The only two riders with 2 consecutive victories in Klasikoa are, next to Lejaretta, Jalabert (2001-02) and Casagrande (1998-99). Their victory-streaks were separated by the solo-victory of Erik Dekker in 2000. Other Dutch winners San Sebastian are Adrie van der Poel (1985), Gert-Jan Theunisse (1988) and Bauke Mollema (2016).

Previous winners who are still active are besides Mollema, Evenepoel, Neilson Powless, Julian Alaphilippe, Michal Kwiatkowski, Adam Yates, Tony Gallopin and Luis León Sánchez. If the 'Aerobullet' wins his third San Sebastian, he will match Lejarreta.Greg Van Avermaet and Joaquim Rodríguez were most often close to victory without getting it. Golden Greg finished 2 times second and Rodríguez finished 2nd once and 2 times third.

In 2014 Valverde was the oldest winner of San Sebastian and Remco Evenepoel is in the top-3 of youngest winners with both his victories. In his first year as a pro (2019), the talented Evenepoel won his first race at WorldTour level in Basque Country at an age of 19 years and 190 days. He was the youngest winner of a big classic in about 75 years. Rik Van Steenbergen (Ronde van Vlaanderen 1944) was the previous winner of a big classic while being younger than 20. 

With 10 top-10s, Baule Mollema is rightfully the most consistent performer in the Basque one-day race. Alejandro Valverde is second in this ranking with 8 top-10s, Joaquim Rodríguez finished 7 times top-10.

11 in a row?

Something unique about the 10 top-10s by Mollema is the fact that he got them in the past 10 editions of the race (DNF in first participation in 2008). 10 in a row! Not many riders have matched this performance in a a big one-day race. Mollema is in the same bracket with Merckx (10 top-10 in Paris-Roubaix), Girardengo (10 top-10s in Milano-SanRemo) and Boogerd (10 top-10s in a row in Amstel Gold Race). Only Roger De Vlaeminck did better with 11 top-results in a row in the 1969 to1979 Paris-Roubaix. No other recently active pro is close to Mollema, but we should mention Valverde with 12 career top-10s in La Flèche Wallonne and 9 top-11 results in a row.

Honorable mention for Mathieu van der Poel, who has 5 top-4s in a row in 'his' Tour of Flanders (2019-2023), a promising sequence in the making.

In all 10 occasions Bauke raced the Tour de France ahead of San Sebastian, but this season he was not selected for the Tour. It remains to be seen if his shape is good enough to get another top-10 and match Roger De Vlaeminck with 11 consecutive top-10s in a big classic.

Strong startlist in 2023

A second complicating factor for a top-10 of Bauke Mollema is this year's strong startlist, according to the Startlist Quality measurement of ProCyclingStats. 12 cyclists among the best 50 riders in the world are racing San Sebastian. In previous years (2021 and 2022) 9 of the strongest riders participated. Felix Gall is the rider who scored most points in the past 50 days. Also Bilbao, Simon Yates, Carlos Rodríguez and O'Connor will try to follow up their great shape displayed in Tour de France 2023.

Best preparation is Tour de France?

Traditionally, San Sebastian is contested by many riders who finished the Tour de France a week or two earlier. This season, 55 TdF participants will start San Sebastián on Saturday. Remco Evenepoel is one of the few riders who won San Sebastian (twice) without a Tour de France participation.

San Sebastián is here, sooner than expected. Most cyclingfans are still digesting the Tour de France or closely following Tour de Frane Femmes. Will we witness a unique 3 out of 3 for Evenepoel? Or will one of the Tour de France stage-winners put a stop to Remco's streak? We will see who will wear the traditional Basque-hat on the podium.