MILAN- SAN REMO
ESTABLISHED 1907 E D I T IO N S 111
The challenge of MilanSan Remo has changed little over the last few decades. Apart from occasional flirtations with tougher climbs, the length of the race and then the final hills, the Cipressa and Poggio, have defined the event. What’s interesting is that while the challenge has changed little, the riders seem to have changed around it. In the 1980s and 1990s, La Primavera favoured breaks and attacks - between 1981 and 1996, the winner was either a solo escapee, or won from a very small group, every single year. Something changed in the late 1990s, however, and the race evolved into more of a sprinters’ race. Erik Zabel, with four wins, was the main beneficiary, but between 1997 and 2010, with a few exceptions the winner came from a more sizeable group. However, despite a run of sprinters’ wins between 2014 and 2016, with Alexander Kristoff, John Degenkolb and Arnaud Démare taking the plaudits, the last decade has seen victory contested between smaller groups. The pattern of racing is the same - the Poggio was, is, and will probably remain the springboard for victory, but it just seems that the puncheurs have hacked the race to the extent that the sprinters are again on the back foot. So much so that Caleb Ewan, first in the bunch sprint behind solo winner Vincenzo Nibali in 2018, has admitted that the race has become less of a target for him. The ‘sprinters’ classic’ perhaps needs to be renamed as the ‘puncheurs’ classic, at least until the sprinters’ teams learn to neutralise the threat of attacks on the Poggio.
For 2021, La Primavera returns to its rightful position in the spring, after covid-19 pushed it back to August last year, and the race will take place against the usual azure skies and Mediterranean views. However conflicts with some coastal towns last year led the organisers RCS to choose a route which went more inland. It was a change that may stick, and some riders said that it altered the challenge a little. However, the crux on March 20 will still be the Poggio.