Last weekend saw the 22nd edition of the San Sebastian classic, with Laurent Jalabert repeating last year’s victory with another sterling performance. The CSC-Tiscali rider broke away on the final ascent of the Jaizkibel with four riders and stayed clear until the finish, where the Frenchman’s speed was enough to see off his rivals.

Despite the early hours of racing being dominated by poor conditions Juan Mercado (ibanesto) and Constantino Zaballa (Kelme) broke clear to build up a lead of over 15 minutes. However, once US Postal moved to the front of the bunch to chase, the lead began to fall dramatically.

At the foot of the final climb the lead was down to a matter of seconds and despite being away for over 180kms, the pair were left to struggle as Lance Armstrong stormed past. But the high-speed chase only helped to springboard Andei Kivilev up the road and the Kazak was quickly joined by Gabrielle Missaglia, Rafael Ferrara, Carlos Sastre and classics revelation, Igor Astarloa.

Jalabert quickly recognised the danger of the move and pounced upon the leaders before the summit to join them just as Sastre and Ferrara began to sit up and wait for the peleton. Despite Dario Frigo catching them on the descent, the group posed little threat to Jalabert, who had been in exactly the same position last year, but with more illustrious riders.

Within the final kilometre Kivilev led the sprint out, but was easily passed with 200 metres go, leaving Jalabert to take the sixth classic victory of his career.

Results

1 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali

2 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport

3 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin

4 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis

5 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi