Race Report: Adam Yates emerges as the victor in the first major race since the Tour with the biggest win of his career in the most confusing race of the year. After a fault with the relay aircraft we were blacked out until the final 6km when the young British rider emerged with a 15 seconds lead over an elite chasing group. He held off the chasers and managed to work out that he was in the lead and at the finish in just enough time to raise his arms in a thoroughly deserved debut World Tour victory.RouteThe Basque region doesn’t have particularly long climbs but it does have a very high number of short steep climbs which the San Sebastian Classic are very happy to use. The first 120km are almost all flat but then they hit the Alto de Jaizkibel and the last 100km are constantly up and down. Adding to the finale is the Bordako Tontorro climb, it’s just 2.5km but averages 9% with max sections of 22%, and comes just under 8km from the finish – so if someone has a gap at the top then there’s a good chance they’ll stay away.The Break FormsThe opening 100km were always going to be approached cautiously, no one wants to waste energy here when they know how difficult the last 100km are. Soon enough we had an 8 man break going clear with Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin), Romain Hardy (Cofidis), Thomas Degand (IAM...
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