Milan-San Remo 2021

Seven hours of shaking the bottle. And then pop the cork. That, according to Swiss former winner Fabian Cancellara, is Milan San Remo in one sentence. According to iconic Belgian Sporza commentator Michel Wuyts, you can compare winning Milan San Remo to putting together a puzzle. You better leave the last piece in your back pocket. Milan San Remo is the cycling race of waiting. The longest cycling monument in kilometers and although often only exploded on the Poggio, also an open race. A race where several and different types of riders can win. And a very beautiful and sought after race, which will forever shine on your palmares. Just ask Philippe Gilbert. Oh, how he would love to win. If Philippe Gilbert wins Milan San Remo 2021, he will have completed his #StriveForFive and won all five monuments (!). That will be something!

When is Milan San Remo 2021?

Milan San Remo 2021 will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2021, making it the first Monument on the program. La Primavera is the unofficial start of spring and, after the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Strade Bianche, is the fourth classic on the program – but immediately the most important, along with those other monuments later in the year (Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix and Liège Bastogne Liège in April and the Tour of Lombardy in October).

Preview of Milan San Remo 2021

Days before the Milan San Remo 2021 we present you here an extensive preview of the race from Milan to San Remo. With an analysis of the race route, an overview of the key moments and slopes and of course an overview of the favorites of the Milan San Remo 2021. Spring Classics.co.uk will also once again provide a star distribution, where the three top favorites will be tipped. As in 2020, we will also once again highlight a joker. The joker will be a dark horse rather than top favorite, but in our eyes a golden tip for your Scorito pool or spring classics pronostic with your group of friends or neighbourhood pub.

Road course Milan San Remo 2021

We already wrote it, La Classicissima is the longest spring classic with 300 kilometers. Since 2019, the start of the race is no longer at the Piazzo del Duoma, but at another attraction for tourists: the Castello Sforzesco.

From the fashion city, La Primavera heads in a southwesterly direction towards the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Actually, until the Passo del Turchino, very little happens, however, from the descent it is often course. At the T-junction, on your left is Genoa, turn right towards San Remo – where the Tre Capi are on the menu. After the Capo Mele, the Capo Cervo and the Capo Berto, the final part of Milan-San Remo begins at forty kilometers from the end.

The Cipressa (5.6 kilometers at 4.1% gradient) killing for the sprinters. After the top, it is as mentioned 22 kilometers to the finish, so there is not much recuperation time. The Poggio (3.7 kilometers at 3.7% gradient) offers escapees a chance to make an ultimate jump in the last ten kilometers. After that top it’s still 5,3 kilometers to the finish on the Via Roma, good for a race of exactly 291 kilometers.

Favourites Milan San Remo 2021

Will Philippe Gilbert complete his #StrifeForFive? Or will we see Dutch all-rounder Mathieu van der Poel achieve his second monumental victory? What can defending champion Wout van Aert do? Or will we see the fast men, and also former winners, Alexander Kristoff or Arnaud Démare crossing the finish line first on the Via Roma? A few days before Milan San Remo 2021 we present here the top favorites for La Primavera 2021!

Milan San Remo last year

Because of the damn corona virus, in 2020 we were without a race for five months starting in March. One of the races that was on the program in early March was logically the spring classic Milan San Remo. So Saturday, August 8, was something we had to get used to. La Primavera in the middle of summer! Milan San Remo 2020 was ridden without the ‘Tre Capi’ but with 305 kilometers of race with the famous Cipressa and Poggio as ‘dolci’. We say 305, the riders eventually had 315 kilometers on the counter due to a long neutralization. Seven hours and forty minutes in the burning sun. How so, a monument…

It was Julian Alaphilippe who lit the fuse on the Poggio and squeaked away. Man-in-form Wout van Aert slipped along after which this royal duo fought for the marbles together. The Belgian was able to take his first monumental victory with a perfect sprint and thus live up to his role as favorite. After the Strade a week earlier, this was his second victory of the cycling year that had just resumed!

Results Milan San Remo 2020
1 Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) 7:16:09
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick Step) ,,
3 Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) at 0:02
4 Peter Sagan (BORA – hansgrohe) ,,
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) ,,
6 Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) ,,
7 Alex Aranburu (Astana Pro Team) ,,
8 Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) ,,
9 Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) ,,
10 Matej Mohorič (Bahrain – McLaren) ,,

Last ten winners of Milan San Remo
2020 Wout van Aert
2019 Julian Alaphilippe
2018 Vincenzo Nibali
2017 Michał Kwiatkowski
2016 Arnaud Démare
2015 John Degenkolb
2014 Alexander Kristoff
2013 Gerald Ciolek
2012 Simon Gerrans
2011 Matthew Goss