Jan Christen fights his way to top-10 finish at the Clásica San Sebastián

Racing the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday afternoon, Jan Christen rode to seventh place for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Last year’s runner-up was unable to match his best result, but still showed plenty of fight across more than 4,000m of elevation gain.

Clásica San Sebastián, with its incessant climbing, always delivers an action-packed day in the saddle, and the 2026 edition proved no different. A large breakaway went from the gun, but the battle for the win was reserved for the final 65km of the 221.2km-long route.

It was Jay Vine who was first to make his move for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with the returning Australian attacking from the peloton on the Jaizkibel climb. The Aussie climber quickly got a gap of 20 seconds ahead of the pack, but was ultimately brought back on the next, and toughest, climb of the day.

On the punishing slopes of Erlaitz, UAE Team Emirates-XRG rallied its troops, with Igor Arrieta proving particularly selfless in support of his teammates. Thanks to the Spaniard’s efforts, the main peloton was at the head of the race with just the Murgil (2.1km at 10.1%) to go.

Jan Christen began to show his face on the final climb of the day, with the Swiss national champion bursting from the front, and looking to follow all the right moves. So too did Christen’s teammate Kevin Vermaerke, with both riders remaining well positioned over the summit.

Putting their Tour de France form to good use, though, were Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). The pair went clear of their rivals on the Murgil climb, and did not look back.

At the finish in San Sebastián, Evenepoel out-sprinted Carapaz to take his fourth Clásica San Sebastián title, with the group of Christen and Vermaerke sprinting it out for the third place on the podium. In the end, it was seventh place for Christen, with Vermaerke finishing just outside of the top 10.

Vermaerke will now look to carry his form into Sunday’s Circuito de Getxo, whilst Christen will head with his teammates Benoît Cosnefroy and Jhonatan Narváez to the Tour de Pologne.

Christen: “For sure, I am happy with the form but I wish we could have got a top result today. We started the race with a really strong team and unfortunately, the right moves didn’t come for us. But, I felt strong, and in the end, we were only the second group at the finish.

“We know how strong Remco [Evenepoel] is, and Carapaz coming from the Tour, but we felt confident of being able to give them a tough race today. That is what we did, with Jay making a nice move, and later, the rest of us showed ourselves. In the end, it wasn’t good enough for the podium, but I am confident now for the Tour de Pologne, where hopefully the team can continue this momentum.”

Clásica San Sebastián 2026 results:

1. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 5:23:10

1. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t

3. Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) +29″

7. Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t