Egan Bernal and Adam Yates lead super-strong Ineos Grenadiers team for Clásica San Sebastián 2021
The Giro d'Italia winner returns to racing for the first time since taking pink in spring
Ineos Grenadiers have announced a super-strong team for the upcoming Clásica San Sebaastián, as they look to return to winning ways after a below-par Tour de France.
Giro d'Italia 2021 winner, Egan Bernal, returns to racing after a long break that started after finishing the Giro in Milan in May. Bernal has been back in Colombia where he has spent time with friends, family and training, focusing on his back injuries.
He will likely lead the line of Ineos Grenadiers riders, however, as the British team have thrown in a few other star riders that could also fight for leader's role. Former Clásica San Sebastián winner in 2015, Adam Yates, will also race just a week after racing to 9th in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games road race.
As well as those two, 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné winner Dani Martínez is also set to get back into racing for the first time since the Giro, much like Bernal. Martínez is likely to be in a support role but could be used as an early attacker.
A two-time stage winner at the 2021 Tour of the Alps, Gianni Moscon is also racing after taking part in the Olympics road race where he finished 20th.
What his form is like is unclear at the moment but he has continued to get solid results in recent months including a win at the Lugano GP in Switzerland.
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The final three riders are very much support riders, but they are some of the finest in the world. Andrey Amador is another who was in Japan but as a sole representative of Costa Rica, he only managed 68th in the road race. However, he will be a vital man in the cog to victory for the Ineos Grenadiers.
Spanish rising star Carlos Rodríguez, 20, is another rider who has shown he has real promise as yet another young up-and-coming rider. He has put in multiple strong performances throughout the year, including a podium in the Spanish time trial championships and eighth in the road race.
Finally, Italian evergreen domestique rider Salvatore Puccio comes back into the supporting role for the team for the first time since the Italian National Championships alongside Moscon.
The Clásica San Sebastián takes on Saturday, July 31, starting and finishing in the Basque Country's regional capital of San Sebastián after a gruelling 223.5km route taking on six categorised climbs as well as multiple other kicks along the way.
The main rivals for the team are looking like they will be world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo). Both are former winners of the race.
Clásica San Sebastián 2021: Ineos Grenadiers line-up
Egan Bernal (Col)
Adam Yates (GBr)
Dani Martínez (Col)
Gianni Moscon (Ita)
Andrey Amador (CRi)
Carlos Rodríguez (Esp)
Salvatore Puccio (Ita)
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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