The first Monument of the year, Milan-San Remo takes place on Saturday March 23, 2019.
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 291km.
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.
Milan-San Remo 2019 route
The route is 291km in length and sees riders travel from Milan to the Riviera di Ponente via Pavia, Ovada and Passo del Turchino.
They then descend towards Genoa Voltri, and head west, through Varazze, Savona, Albenga, Imperia and San Lorenzo al Mare before the three “Capi” – Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta.
Then it all gets spicy as the peloton reaches two notable climbs, the Cipressa and Poggio di Sanremo.
The Cipressa is just over 5.6km long with a gradient of 4.1 per cent, and followed by a technical descent down to the SS 1 Aurelia road.
Then there’s the climb of the Poggio di Sanremo – which is 3.7 kilometres long, with an average gradient of less than 4 per cent and maximum of 8 per cent.
It might be shallow, but it starts 9km before the finish, and it’s a narrow road with four hairpins in the first 2km.
The descent is highly technical again. Once the downhill slope has been negotiated, there’s 2km of long, straight urban roads before a left hand bend at a roundabout 850m from the finish straight.
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 that since 2014 the race has featured neither climb.
Michal Kwiatkowski edges out Peter Sagan at Milan-San Remo. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada
Now the dynamic of the route has shifted comprehensively back to the sprinters.
After Alexander Kristoff (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 (Giant-Alpecin) in 2015 and Arnaud Démare (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.
Watching Milan-San Remo on TV
The race will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2, from 1.30pm until 4.30pm.
There will be a highlights package, also on Eurosport 2, at 10.30pm.
Elsewhere in the world, you could 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 2019 start list
The complete start list is out, and names include 2018 winner, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida), 2016 winner Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and 2015’s victor John Degenkolb (Trek – Segafredo) plus 2014’s Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).
It’s undeniable Deceuninck-Quick-Step had an incredible start to 2019, and they bring with them Julian Alaphilippe and his team mate Elia Viviani. Multiple time world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) isn’t a name we can rule out for a ‘sprinters’ classic’ wither, and not is UAE’s Fernando Gaviria.
BARDIANI CSF
ALBANESE Vincenzo
BARBIN Enrico
MAESTRI Mirco
ORSINI Umberto
ROTA Lorenzo
TONELLI Alessandro
WACKERMANN Luca
BORA-HANSGROHE
SAGAN Peter
BENNETT Sam
BODNAR Maciej
BURGHARDT Marcus
DRUCKER Jean-Pierre
GATTO Oscar
OSS Daniel
CCC TEAM
VAN AVERMAET Greg
PAUWELS Serge
SCHAER Michael
VAN HOECKE Gijs
VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan
VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco Jo
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS
LAPORTE Christophe
BOUHANNI Nacer
SIMON Julien
SOUPE Geoffrey
VANBILSEN Kenneth
VAN LERBERGHE Bert
WAEYTENS Zico
DECEUNINCK-QUICK-STEP
ALAPHILIPPE Julian
DECLERCQ Tim
GILBERT Philippe
LAMPAERT Yves
MORKOV Michael
RICHEZE Maximiliano Ariel
VIVIANI Elia
DIRECT ENERGIE
TERPSTRA Niki
BONIFAZIO Niccolò
CALMEJANE Lilian
COUSIN Jerome
GRELLIER Fabien
NAULEAU Bryan
TURGIS Anthony
EF EDUCATION FIRST
CLARKE Simon
BENNETT Sean
BETTIOL Alberto
CRADDOCK G Lawson
LANGEVELD Sebastian
MCLAY Daniel
MODOLO Sacha
GROUPAMA-FDJ
DEMARE Arnaud
GUARNIERI Jacopo
KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
KÜNG Stefan
LADAGNOUS Matthieu
LE GAC Olivier
ROUX Anthony
ISRAEL CYCLING ACADEMY
NEILANDS Krists
CIMOLAI Davide
DUNNE Conor
ENGER Sondre
SAGIV Guy
SBARAGLI Kristian
VAN ASBROECK Tom
LOTTO SOUDAL
EWAN Caleb
HANSEN Adam James
KEUKELEIRE Jens
KLUGE Roger
MAES Nikolas
MARCZYNSKI Tomasz
VAN DER SANDE Tosh
MITCHELTON – SCOTT
TRENTIN Matteo
ALBASINI Michael
BEWLEY Sam
HEPBURN Michael
IMPEY Daryl
JUUL JENSEN Christopher
MEZGEC Luka
MOVISTAR TEAM
VALVERDE Alejandro
BARBERO Carlos
BENNATI Daniele
BETANCUR Carlos
MAS BONET Luis Guillermo
PRADES REVERTER Eduard
ROELANDTS Jurgen
NERI SOTTOLI SELLE ITALIA KTM
VISCONTI Giovanni
BONGIORNO Manuel
MARENGO Alberto
PACIONI Luca
RAGGIO Luca
SCHÖNBERGER Sebastian
VELASCO Simone
TEAM DIMENSION DATA
KREUZIGER Roman
CUMMINGS Stephen
EISEL Bernhard
GASPAROTTO Enrico
JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
NIZZOLO Giacomo
SLAGTER Tom-Jelte
TEAM JUMBO-VISMA
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
BOUWMAN Koen
POWLESS Neilson
TEUNISSEN Mike
VAN AERT Wout
VAN EMDEN Jos
VAN POPPEL Danny
TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN
BATTAGLIN Enrico
GONÇALVES José
HALLER Marco
HOLLENSTEIN Reto
KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
SCHMIDT Mads Würtz
SPILAK Simon
TEAM NOVO NORDISK
BRAND Sam
CALABRIA Fabio
KUSZTOR Péter
LOZANO RIBA David
PERON Andrea
PLANET Charles
POLI Umberto
TEAM SKY
MOSCON Gianni
BASSO Leonardo
DOULL Owain
KNEES Christian
PUCCIO Salvatore
ROWE Luke
STANNARD Ian
TEAM SUNWEB
MATTHEWS Michael
CURVERS Roy
DUMOULIN Tom
HIRSCHI Marc
KRAGH ANDERSEN Soeren
ROCHE Nicolas
PEDERSEN Casper
TREK-SEGAFREDO
DEGENKOLB John
DE KORT Koen
FELLINE Fabio
MULLEN Ryan
SKUJINS Toms
STUYVEN Jasper
THEUNS Edward
UAE TEAM EMIRATES
KRISTOFF Alexander
BYSTRØM Sven Erik
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
MARCATO Marco
PHILIPSEN Jasper
TROIA Oliviero
ULISSI Diego
Milan-San Remo : Recent winners
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
