Schrödinger's Evenepoel - Clasica San Sebastian announces Olympic Champion in 2025 edition one day after his coach confirmed he wouldn't

After the end of the Tour de France, Remco Evenepoel's coach Koen Pelgrim was asked if the Belgian was going to be present at the Clasica San Sebastian. The answer was "it's not an option" but this morning at the race's presentation, Evenepoel was still named amongst the stars present at this weekend's highlighter.

At the presentation ceremony held this Tuesday, the presence of the Soudal Quick-Step star was 'confirmed', along with those of Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi, the latter as winner of the last edition of the race, when he was still with UAE Team Emirates.

However this statement from the race has to be taken with a grain of salt. Initially Evenepoel was in the race's preliminary startlist, and it is odd to say the least taking into consideration Pelgrim's words to Het Laatste Nieuws that were published only one day ago: "It's not an option. First we want to make sure he fully recovers from the Tour and recharges his energy".

Hence there is a clash of information from the rider's camp and the race organizers with only a few days left for the race to take place. Evenepoel is a three-time winner of the 'Donostia Klasikoa', whilst last year he did not participate after becoming double Olympic Champion in Alaphilippe.

Evenepoel abandoned the Tour de France with early symptoms of illness, exhaustion and the physical wear of the efforts and a fractured rib that he suffered at the national championships a week before the race. He does not have a confirmed return to racing date as of the writing of this piece, taking into consideration his and the team's announcements.

However the Basque classic is set to have a very interesting battle as there is a great degree of certainty over the return to racing of Mikel Landa and the UAE Team Emirates - XRG duo of Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro both at the start line.