“We tried everything and we almost won” – Jan Christen second as Giulio Ciccone denies UAE in San Sebastián

UAE Team Emirates - XRG fell just short of another win in their dominant 2025 season, coming away with second place at Clasica San Sebastián. The team, already boasting 68 victories this year, couldn’t add a 69th as Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek stormed to victory for Italy. UAE threw everything at the race with a deep lineup that included Jan Christen, Isaac del Toro, and Juan Ayuso, but it was Ciccone who had the final say on the punishing Murgil Tontorra climb.

Del Toro and Christen remained active deep into the race, with Christen making a decisive move from the chasing group on the final ascent. Ayuso had already been distanced earlier, bad news for fans of the Spaniard ahead of the Vuelta later this month.

Christen's attack briefly looked like it could reel in Ciccone, but the Italian proved too strong, launching a solo move that stuck to the line. Christen settled for second, crossing nine seconds behind.

“It was a hard race, Giulio was super strong. We tried everything and we almost won,” Christen said in the team’s post-race press release. “On the final steep climb I felt good and could go across to Isaac and I tried to jump directly to try and surprise Ciccone and maybe set up a 1-2 with Isaac but he wasn’t feeling too good at that point. Ciccone kept the pressure on until the finish so congrats to him.”