mountain pass Jaizkibel was located. Helped by UCI president Luis Puig, they placed the race in the highest steps of world cycling. Ugarte has talked about the creation of the race: The birth of the race The race was first organized in 1981. Throughout the 229 kilometers that this race consisted of, the most outstanding note was the hardness of it. Of the 71 riders who took the start, only 30 were able to reach the finish line, on a very hot day and with a huge number of spectators watching the race. The ascent of the five passes that marked the route caused havoc in the peloton. With some skirmishes, the race was relatively calm until the Jaizkibel (which with Azcárate, Karabieta, Udana and Alto de Orio) formed the quintet of great difficulties of the race. There, Marino Lejarreta took off and marched alone towards the finish line. He managed to win again the following year, attacking the rest of the chasing group in Jaizkibel, and reaching Pedro Delgado and Jesús Rodríguez Magro in the breakaway, managing to beat them in the final sprint. He would go on to repeat the feat in 1987. Other important riders who managed to win the race in its first editions include Miguel Induráin, World Champion Claude Criquielion and Classics Allah Adri van der Poel. Redrawing the climbs Over the years the organizers have added climbs to complicate the race, as the riders' level has generally improved over the years, making it more of a climbers classic. The course was insufficient for the big group to break up and play for the victory in San Sebastián or in the previous climbs of Gaintzurizketa and especially Miracruz (3 km from the finish), since in some editions it had an outcome similar to that of the Milan–San Remo. After the turn of the century the race has come to be dominated by Puncheurs, All-rounders, and classics specialist who could sustain themselves in climbs, on top of the climbers. Recent occurrences On 1 August 2015, Adam Yates took his biggest victory to date by winning the Clásica de San Sebastián after attacking on the final climb as leader Greg Van Avermaet of was involved in a crash with a race motorcycle, and holding off the chasers on the descent into San Sebastián. In the confusion after Van Avermaet's crash Yates did not realise he had won,