Gesink, Sanchez, Cunego and Stybar part of lineup for Clasica San Sebastian

Rabobank, Lampre-ISD and Omega Pharma name selections for WorldTour race

With the Clasica San Sebastian to be held in just three day’s time, more teams have confirmed strong selections for the WorldTour event. The Rabobank squad will feature 2010 winner Luis Leon Sanchez, who showed good form recently with a stage win in the Tour de France, as well as Bauke Mollema and Robert Gesink, who was seventh in San Sebastian two years ago.

According to directeur sportif Adri van Houwelingen, the team’s strategy will be all about strength in numbers.

“We want to go into the the final stretch with as many riders as possible. Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema and of course 2010’s winner Luís Leon Sanchez have to be able to play a role. But we also want to have Matti Breschel and Paul Martens in the first group when the final part begins. That way we will have a strong block and we will have the biggest chance.”

The race is known for its two ascents of the Jaizkibel climb, although van Houwelingen is sceptical that it will give the pure climbers a real chance. “More and more often you can see a big group struggling for victory after the Jaizkibel…it Jaizkibel doesn’t decide the result anymore,” he said. “On the second time around, the top is 37 kilometres from the finish…you can still always see riders getting back to the front. We won’t benefit from a hard tempo on the climb.”

The five riders mentioned will be backed by Laurens ten Dam, Juanma Garate and Grischa Niermann.

Meanwhile former Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego is aiming to perform considerably better than before in the race. The route should suit the punchy rider but his best performances there have been 22nd in 2009 and 25th one year later.

He last competed in the GP Città di Arona on July 12th; since then he’s been getting ready for the final part of the season, and will hope to show well in San Sebastian.

“Cunego will try to change a tradition that until now has not allowed him to obtain top results in Clasica San Sebastian,” said the team. “He’ll rely on a top quality team and top team mates, such [Diego] Ulissi, whose condition is increasing and who could be competitive in such demanding course.

“[Morris] Possoni too is in a good shape, since he trained in a specific way that could bring him to be very competitive in the main races of the second part of the season.”

The lineup also includes Gomez Winner Anacona, Davide Cimolai, Oleksandr Kvachuk, Marco Marzano and Przemyslaw Niemiec.

“Niemiec and Marzano will be important in the passages in Jaizkibel, while Cimolai and Kvachuk will be useful in order to try to join breakaways or to support the team on the flat.”

A third team announcing its line-up is the Omega Pharma Quick Step squad. Former world cyclo cross champion Zdenek Stybar will soon make his Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta a España and will test his form in San Sebastian. Also competing for the Belgian team will be strong attacker Sylvain Chavanel, plus Marco Bandiera, Dario Cataldo, Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Serge Pauwels and Jerome Pineau,

“We have a good team over there. The team is well balanced and we can count on riders being able to do well in this race,” said directeur sportif Davide Bramati. “Traditionally it is one of the hardest one day races in the World Tour circuit, but we have the quality in our team to be the protagonist in every moment of the race.”

Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian (WorldTour):

Omega Pharma Quick Step: Marco Bandiera, Dario Cataldo, Sylvain Chavanel, Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Serge Pauwels, Jerome Pineau, Zdenek Stybar.