What You Missed From an Electrifying Milan-San Remo

The longest race of the year, Milan-San Remo, runs nearly 300 kilometers (182 miles) in Northwest Italy. This year marks the 114th iteration of the race, but it’s anything but predictable. In a fantastic attack in the final climb of the race, Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin–Deceuninck took the solo win, breaking away from Tadej Pogačar, Wout van Aert, and Filippo Ganna with 5.4K to go.

How Milan-San Remo played out

175 riders were at the start line, and only one favorite was missing from the first of the five Monument races of the season: The only rider missing was unfortunately Tom Pidcock, who was recovering from a minor concussion. But fellow cyclocross superstar Wout van Aert was there, and lit up social media early in the morning with his choice to use a single 50-tooth chainring in the front—an aggressive choice for the Jumbo-Visma rider who was cited as one of the racers to watch for the win. And of course, Tadej Pogačar was also on the line, as were Julian Alaphilippe, Peter Sagan, and perennial favorite Mathieu van der Poel.

The race begins relatively flat and fast out of Abbiategrasso, Italy. An early nine-man breakaway was quickly established, but the peloton refused to grant them much leeway, only allowing the break to establish a gap of three minutes. (Shout out to the first Ethiopian rider to race Milan San Remo—Negasi Abreha of the Q36 .5 Pro Cycling Team—who made it into the early break!)

With Trek-Segafredo and Jumbo-Visma controlling the front of the peloton, the pace was high for such a long race—commentators and fans were surprised to see the peloton working so hard so early, keeping the break practically within eyesight.

By 50 kilometers to go, the racing had truly begun as the first of the five climbs to the finish began, along with roads that were becoming increasingly tight and technical as riders sped through small cities. The breakaway’s advantage quickly dropped from the two minutes they’d held for hours down to a minute as the first of the nine riders popped and dropped behind them and was eventually swallowed by the peloton.

As riders hit the steepest of the climbs, the Capo Berta, the pace picked up and riders began to drift out of the back of the peloton, including past winner Mark Cavendish, while Abreha was dropped from the chase group.

A few small crashes took out or delayed riders as they negotiated tricky obstacles on the road, and heading into the Cipressa climb, the break was swallowed up by the peloton as riders hit the climb hard. Pogačar’s team, UAE, surged to the front to allow their leader to make his move, but all the main players, including van Aert and van der Poel and defending champion Matej Mohorič (who’s win last year was partially attributed to his bold use of a dropper post), hung on.

Niels Pollett attacked and was quickly caught with nine kilometers ahead of the last climb, the Poggio Di Sanremo. The Poggio is one of the most iconic climbs in cycling, despite only being around four kilometers long and not terribly steep—but after nearly 300 kilometers of riding, it’s an exhausting climb and nail-biting descent.

Up the Poggio Di Sanremo

With 10 kilometers to go, the race truly began as the Poggio climb began. The Bahrain Victorious riders controlled the front of the race, fighting for team leader Mohorič. Pogačar, van der Poel and van Aert all sat comfortably towards the front of the peloton. Pogačar made his move and attacked in a big way. Fillipo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers worked to shut down a gap that Pogačar tried to create, and van Aert and Van der Poel jumped on the wheel.

Van der Poel attacked in a big way and swiftly built a gap with 5.4 kilometers to go, while van Aert started to struggle. Van der Poel quickly opened a strong lead as he started to descend the Poggio. Van Aert recovered and started to chase in earnest, Pogačar and Ganna struggling to stay on his wheel.

But van der Poel’s lead seemed untouchable as they hit the flat two kilometers to the finish. Van der Poel smoothly cruised in for his first Milan San Remo victory with plenty of time to celebrate—a tribute to his grandfather, who also has won this Monument in the 1960s.

Behind him, the three riders fought to take the final two spots on the podium. Ganna took second in a sprint effort with van Aert coming in for third.

If you’re new to cycling, you might be wondering where the women’s race coverage is. Unfortunately, there is not yet a women’s iteration of the Milan San Remo race, however, it has been announced that one is in the works. But you can watch the classic Trofeo Alfredo Binda women’s World Tour race on Sunday to get your women’s cycling fix.

Milan-San Remo Results 2023

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

2. Fillipo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers)

3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)

4. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

5. Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

6. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo)

7. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)

8. Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious)

9. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies)

10. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)

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