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Valverde wins Clásica San Sebastián
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Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde won Saturday's Clásica San Sebastián by outsprinting a group of about ten riders including Davide Rebellin, Paolo Bettini, Franco Pellizotti, Denis Menchov and Samuel Sánchez.
The group formed after Bettini's Quick Step team put the hammer down in the final kilometers, leading into the Cat. 3 Alto de Arkale climb 16km from the finish. Bettini attacked twice on the climb and whittled the peloton down to about a dozen riders.
Silence-Lotto's Yaroslav Popovych and Rebellin also took flyers in the final kilometers, but were drawn back by Valverde's teammates.
In the final kilometer no one could match Valverde's finishing power. he jumped first and held off CSC's Alexandre Kolobnev for the win.
Preliminary results:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
2 Alexandr Kolobnev (Team CSC)
3 Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner)
4 Paolo Bettini (Quick Step)
5 Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas)
6 Denis Menchov (Rabobank)
7 Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
8 Stéphane Goubert (AG2R La Mondiale)
9 Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
10 David Moncoutié (Cofidis)
11 Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto)
