The longest Monument of the year, Milan-San Remo takes place on Saturday March 20, 2021. The Italian race is back in its original spot after taking place in October last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UCI WorldTour race is the longest of the one-day spring Classics, providing a showcase of some of the best riders in the world over almost 300km.
A women's version - Primavera Rosa - took place between 1999 to 2005, but was cancelled by the UCI in 2006. The first edition, in 1999 was won by Italian Sara Felloni and the last, in 2005, by German, Trixi Worrack.
The 2021 edition comes less than sixth months after the last, the coronavirus pandemic pushing the 2020 race back to August, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) outsprinting the 2019 winner Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) to victory in the summer heat.
Those two riders head up the list of favourites for this year's race, as well as Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), who recently won Strade Bianche in commanding form.
While the 2020 Milan - San Remo was memorable due to its date change, this year the edition will be remembered for being televised in full, from start to finish.
Many may consider broadcasting all of the 300km to be overkill, such is the length of the race that the finish town of Sanremo doesn't bother closing its roads to traffic until its more than halfway done, but the coronavirus pandemic is once again behind the reason for this unprecedented change.
With Italy heading back into lockdown as coronavirus cases trend upwards once more, authorities hope that broadcasting one of the country's most beloved races will encourage people to say inside and watch it on television rather than heading outside to watch it pass by. And for those not fortunate enough to live along the route, the hope is that people will be encouraged to stay inside to watch the rollout from Milan, given the chance doesn't often present itself to viewers.
The other favourites for the day include Michael Matthews (BikeExchange), who finished third last year with a bloodied hand after crashing into a wall, while Alaphilippe has two team-mates more than capable of delivering victory for Deceuninck - Quick-Step. Sam Bennett is showing himself to be one of, if not the pre-eminent sprinters in 2021, while Davide Ballerini has also announced himself to the WorldTour at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Tour de La Provence.
Aussie sprinter Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) is another fast finisher capable of taking the win if it comes down to a bunch sprint, as is Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) who won in 2016. Ineos Grenadiers have two riders with an outside chance, the Italian Filippo Ganna as well as Brit Tom Pidcock, who has impressed with top-five finishes at Strade Bianche and Kuurne-Brussels-Kurrne in his debut WorldTour season.
Milan-San Remo 2021 route
The route has been revealed and it is back to its normal finale with the final 60km of the 299km route taking in the Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, Capo Berta, the Cipressa and the Poggio di Sanremo.
One change is that the Colle del Giovo has been added instead of the usual Passo del Turchino as the famous climb is blocked by a landslide that will not be cleared before the race takes pleace. There will be around 112km to go once they go over the top of Giovo as they return to the traditional route to the line that finishes on the Via Roma in San Remo.
Milan-San Remo route history
Despite being known as the ‘Sprinters' Classic’, the Italian race would not be as prestigious as it is were it a straightforward procession to a bunch sprint, and instead the race is characterised by its tortuous length, thrilling conclusion and delicate balancing act between sprinters and attackers.
The introduction of La Manie in 2008 gave the advantage to attacking puncheurs, as a difficult, significantly-positioned climb to gain an advantage over those hoping for a bunch sprint. It contributed to a handful of more selective editions - Fabian Cancellara won from a solo break in 2008 and Simon Gerrans from a group of three in 2010, and in both 2011 and 2013 a group of seven contested the finish, won by Matt Goss and Gerald Ciolek respectively.
When La Manie was dropped in 2014, the organiser's initial intention had been to make the route even harder by replacing it with the Pompeiana in a slot far closer to the finish. But that climb was deemed unsafe due to the possibility of landslides, so since 2014, the race has featured neither climb.
Now the dynamic of the route has shifted comprehensively back to the sprinters.
After Alexander Kristoff (then Katusha) won the sprint from a sizeable peloton in 2014, the finish was moved back to its traditional finishing straight of Via Roma, and another sprinter was triumphant in the form of John Degenkolb (then Giant-Alpecin) in 2015 and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) in 2016.
For the bold and the brave the Cipressa provides a potential launchpad for an attack at just over 20km from the finish, but for the more realistic, it’s the Poggio.
On the back of around 280km of racing the riders are exhausted upon reaching it, and, peaking at 5.5km from the finish, any rider who goes over the top first with a gap has a chance of zooming down the descent and holding off the sprinters for victory on the Via Roma.
Only two British riders have emerged victorious at the race with Tom Simpson being the first back in 1964 for Peugeot-BP-Engelbert team, the next came several years later in 2009 when Mark Cavendish (then Team Columbia-High Road) took victory in a bunch sprint. British champion, Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) has come close on various occasions.
Irish star, Sean Kelly, has taken victory twice, his first coming in 1986 and the latter coming close to the end of his career in 1992. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) who has already equalled the great 'King' Kelly's achievement of winning the green jersey at the Tour de France, will be hoping to add his name to the list of winners in 2021.
Milan-San Remo 2021 start list
Team Jumbo-Visma
VAN AERT Wout
MARTENS Paul
PFINGSTON Christoph
AFFINI Edoardo
OOMEN Sam
ROOSEN Timo
VAN EMDEN Jos
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
ALAPHILIPPE Julian
BENNETT Sam
BALLERINI Davide
LAMPAERT Yves
ASGREEN Kasper
STYBAR Zdenek
DECLERCQ Tim
UAE Team Emirates
GAVIRIA Fernando
COVI Alessandro
KRISTOFF Alexander
FORMOLO Davide
TRENTIN Matteo
BYSTRØM Sven Erik
RICHEZE Max
Ag2r La Mondiale-Cotroën
VAN AVERMAET Greg
NAESEN Oliver
VAN HOUCKE Gijs
DEWULF Stan
VENDRAME Andrea
GOUGEARD Alexis
SCHÄR Michael
Trek-Segafredo
STUYVAN Jasper
NIBALI Vincenzo
SIMMONS Quinn
MOSCA Jacopo
CICCONE Giulio
SKUJINS Toms
MULLEN Ryan
Bora-Hansgrohe
ACKERMANN Pascal
SCHACHMANN Max
SAGAN Peter
OSS Daniel
BENNEDETTI Cesare
BODNAR Maciej
BURGHARDT Marcus
Israel Start-Up Nation
CIMOLAI Davide
HOFSTETTER Hugo
NEILANDTS Krists
WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
BRÄNDLE Matthias
DE MARCHI Alessandro
ZABEL Rick
Groupama-FDJ
DÉMARE Arnaud
SINKELDAM Ramon
MOLARD Rudy
GENIETS Kevin
KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
SCOTSON Miles
GUARNIERI Jacopo
Team BikeExchange
MATTHEWS Michael
STANNARD Robert
DURBRIDGE Luke
HEPBURN Michael
JUUL-JENSEN Chris
MEZGEC Luka
KONYCHEV Alexander
Team Qhubeka-Assos
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GOGL Michael
CLARKE Simon
CAMPENAERTS Victor
VINJEBO Emil
WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz
LINDEMAN Bert-Jan
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
VIVIANI Elia
LAPORTE Christophe
SABATINI Fabio
MARTIN Guillaume
VANBILSEN Kenneth
VIVIANI Attilio
PÉRICHON Pierre-Luc
Ineos Grenadiers
KWIATKOWSKI Michał
GANNA Filippo
HAYTER Ethan
VAN BAARLE Dylan
PIDCOCK Tom
ROWE Luke
MOSCON Gianni
Astana-Premier Tech
ARANBURU Alex
MARTINELLI Davide
FELLINE Fabio
BOARO Manuele
GRUZDEV Dmitriy
IZAGIRRE Gorka
SOBRERO Matteo
Bahrain Victorious
COLBRELLI Sonny
MOHORIČ Matej
WRIGHT Fred
HAUSSLER Heinrich
CARUSO Damiano
ARASHIRO Yukiya
TRATNIK Jan
Lotto-Soudal
EWAN Caleb
GILBERT Philippe
DEGENKOLB John
KLUGE Roger
DE BUYST Jasper
FRISON Frederik
WELLENS Tim
EF Education-Nippo
HIGUITA Sergio
CORT Magnus
CAICEDO Jonathan
BETTIOL Alberto
LANGEVELD Sebastian
SCULLY Tom
BISSEGGER Stefan
Movistar Team
GARCÍA CORTINA Iván
NORSGAARD Mathias
TORRES Albert
SERRANO Gonzalo
MAS Lluís
OLIVEIRA Nelson
VILELLA Davide
Team DSM
BARDET Romain
TUSVELD Martijn
KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
DENZ Nico
SÜTTERLIN Jasha
PEDERSEN Casper
COMBAUD Romain
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
VLIEGEN Loïc
DE GENDT Aimé
PASQUALON Andrea
ROTA Lorenzo
KOCH Jonas
VAN DER HOORN Taco
VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter
Alpecin-Fenix
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
VAKOČ Petr
VERGAERDE Otto
SBRAGLI Kristian
VERMEERSCH Gianni
DE BONDT Dries
LEYSEN Senne
Total Direct Energie
BONIFAZIO Niccolò
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
TERPSTRA Niki
TURGIS Anthony
MANZIN Lorrenzo
PETIT Adrien
SIMON Julien
Arkéa-Samsic
BOUHANNI Nacer
CAPIOT Amaury
BARGUIL Warren
MCLAY Daniel
SWIFT Connor
RUSSO Clément
PICHON Laurent
Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
PELLAUD Simon
VIEL Mattia
BAIS Mattia
CHIRICO Luca
RUMAC Josip
TAGLIANI Filippo
VENCHIARUTTI Nicola
Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
BATTAGLIN Enrico
MARENGO Umberto
FIORELLI Filippo
ZANA Filippo
VISCONTI Giovanni
TONELLI Alessandro
SAVINI Daniel
Team Novo-Nordisk
PLANET Charles
BRAND Sam
KAMSTRA Brian
LOZANO David
PERON Andrea
POLI Umberto
KUSZTOR Péter
Watching Milan-San Remo on TV
The race is broadcast on Eurosport and GCN Race Pass, with live coverage as well as a highlights package.
Our full guide on how to watch Milan - San Remo can be found here.
Elsewhere in the world, you can catch it live on Sporza (Dutch) and RTBF (French); Italy's Rai Sport 2 and SBS in Australia will also show footage.
You can follow the action via Twitter, via the handle @Milano_Sanremo.
Milan-San Remo : Recent winners
2020: Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma
2019: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck–Quick-Step
2018: Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
2017: Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
2016: Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ
2015: John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin
2014: Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha
2013: Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka
2012: Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEdge
2011: Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
2010: Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
2009: Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia-Highroad
2008: Fabian Cancellara (Sui) CSC
2007: Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
Previous editions: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
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.
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