The first Monument of the season, ‘La Primavera’ the 114th edition will break from the traditional start in Milan and begin in Abbiategrasso, before rolling 294km to San Remo. Organizers were forced to move the historic start from Milan due to reasons including limited traffic police being available. Then it's flat until the Turchino Pass (the highest point) and next the Tre Capi: the Capo Mele, the Capo Cerco and the Capo Berta. Then, full gas to the last climbs: the Cipressa and the decisive Poggio (9kms from the finish).
Milan-San Remo used to be the arena for the sprinters, but it has been some time since a full run-in to Via Roma. Recently the winners emerged from small groups or solo riders. The tactics are clear for the non-sprinter teams, they will make the race so hard on the final climbs to drop the sprinters.
114th Milan-San Remo March 18th. My picks:
Biniam Girmay
Biniam Girmay won Valencia in February and rode well in Tirreno Adriatico (3rd and 4th place). He was 12th last year and followed up with his classy Gent-Wevelgem win.
“In the downhill, you have to take a little bit of risk but this is of course what you have to do because it’s a big race. You also need to know which riders you have to follow. Some strong guys can miss their position and then they come back and they spend energy. It’s all about seeing the right movements because now Tadej Pogacar is there, the race will be different. It’s different from the last few years because they already start the race on the Cipressa, not just on the Poggio.
I think it’s the easiest race to win of the Monuments but it’s also difficult to win. So, I just prepare myself as best as I can and I give everything.”
-Biniam Girmay
Peter Sagan
“Milan-San Remo has always been a race that suits me but has always been a difficult race for me to win. But I still have a chance to win. Milan-San Remo is more of a lottery and everything plays in the last five kilometers, so it's difficult to have time to correct mistakes. Milan-San Remo, it's all or nothing. If I win Milan-San Remo, I'll retire immediately. No. Just kidding... Maybe. Let's see what happens first. Let's try to win first, then I'll decide."
-Peter Sagan
"We plan to do a Milan-San Remo recon on Wednesday and so we'll ride the Poggio three times. It takes three years to do that in the race, so it's good to ride it multiple times in training and get the experience. We'll rest up this week, drink a few cappuccinos and eat Italian crostata cakes. Then hopefully we'll have the legs for Saturday. I'm going to ask team to have Mathieu with me at every race I do. That's not possible but it's really nice he's doing that job and doing it really good. He needed this race (Tirreno-Adriatico) but he'll be ready for the Classics and so we'll have two options for Milan-San Remo."
-Jasper Philipsen
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