Milan San Remo

Inquitus

Live on Eurosport from 13:30

Finish line has been moved to the historically favoured Via Roma which is 1km nearer the foot of the Poggio. This increases the chances of an escape over the Poggio and daring descent making it to the finish line without being brought back by the sprinters teams.

La Manie is absent from the race for the 2nd year in a row. We can see from this chart that it really changed the race dynamic when it was in place, and it has likely been removed to keep the sprinters interest. La Manie years in grey.

Apparently there is a headwind up the Poggio which might well keep a lid of the attacks, and its also fairly breezy along the coast.



At nearly 300km in length it is the longest of the Monuments.









Odds

Alexander Kristoff 5
Peter Sagan 6
Mark Cavendish 7
Fabian Cancellara 9
John Degenkolb 14
Michael Matthews 14
Juan Jose Lobato 16
Greg Van Avermaet 18
Zdenek Stybar 22
Ben Swift 25
Michal Kwiatkowski 28
Philippe Gilbert 33
Nacer Bouhanni 33
Andre Greipel 25
Alejandro Valverde 50
Davide Cimolai 66
Gerald Ciolek 50
Heinrich Haussler 66

Inquitus

Needs some Sean Kelly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI

Borderfox

There was a great tweet yesterday from Oleg Tinkoff to Fabian Cancellara saying to watch out for him as he is an old fox, Cancellara just replied
@olegtinkov i am not a old fox... I am #Spartacus.... Class

DominoDub

Looking forward to see how Sam Bennett gets on on his Debut ...hope he can last the 300KM Distance and the climbs ..if he can stay near the front he will always be a contender (now @66/1 was @100/1 )

whacker00

Matt Stephens seems to be getting a lot of the big events now for commentating, haven't heard Kirby in a while has he been demoted, and also it seems no Kelly which is a pity

DominoDub

Getting to like Matt ..on Eurosport ..but I was already a fan of his from the GCN YouTube Channel.

The tax man

Wasn't sure which day this race was on and set a recording for yesterday.
After hitting the road at 5am, riding 200kms up North and getting home after 9pm, I sat down to watch the race. Fell asleep and woke up with the race finished, so went to bed.
Only this morning when I played the recording again did I cop it was last years race. I was so shattered I never even noticed watching teams that no longer exist. When Nibali made a break I thought he tried this last year and he's doing it again.:o

neris

delightful looking day for it. They really should hold the race in Ireland where the weather is glorious

Wheres Kelly on the commentary today?

pelevin

Just paid Eurosport a year's subscription. Looks like they're really flying along now, some nasty looking falls. Has Sam Bennett any kind of realistic chance, anyone reckon?
A 3 man Sky train powering along!

blobbie

Ouch

Beasty

No spoiler tags required - this is a one-day race

neris

Ah poor Bono

neris

why does the 1st guy in the train lead the line from one side of the road to the other?

pelevin

Looking good for Sagan as of now with Kristoff struggling at the back.

neris

getting interesting now

neris

cioleks not a happy bunny

kwiatoski gone aswell

Roquentin

who won?

neris

degenkolb

neris

great recovery from kristoff

neris

degenkolb, kristoff, matthews, sagan

pelevin

Stonking last hour there. Great ride by G Thomas, surely Kristoff lost through being at the front from too far out. Come to think of it - not that it's particularly a surprise - after Sky's prominent aggressive riding, Ben Swift nowhere in the sprint.

neris

pelevin wrote: »

Stonking last hour there. Great ride by G Thomas, surely Kristoff lost through being at the front from too far out.

thought paulini might have taken him a few meters on before he pulled back but say the 2 of them were shagged by the last few hundred meters

XtotheZ

neris wrote: »

thought paulini might have taken him a few meters on before he pulled back but say the 2 of them were shagged by the last few hundred meters

he did go from 1.5 out and if he could he would of

MPFG

Well sky really made that a race ...but didn't benefit form it ....managed to drop pure sprinters or at least tire them out though...No CAV, Demare, Greipel

Suited Degenkolb & Matthews and Kristoff did very well to recover before end ...
SKY might have been better riding for Thomas
Sagan not on podium...yikes

pelevin

MPFG wrote: »

Well sky really made that a race ...but didn't benefit form it ....managed to drop pure sprinters or at least tire them out though...No CAV, Demare, Greipel

Suited Degenkolb & Matthews and Kristoff did very well to recover before end ...
SKY might have been better riding for Thomas
Sagan not on podium...yikes

I think it must be written into Thomas's contract to be a sacrificial lamb in the classics for riders with less chances.

MPFG

pelevin wrote: »

I think it must be written into Thomas's contract to be a sacrificial lamb in the classics for riders with less chances.

Thomas is riding amazingly this year ...hope he leads in one of the classics

Tinkov having meltdown and calling Matti Breschel stupid on twitter

TheBlaaMan

Sam came in 78th @ 5 minutes. Goal achieved for him to finish, having never raced this distance before. There will be other chances for him.

marvin80

Degenkolb tipped by Sean Kelly during the week:

https://www.seankellycycling.com/blog/milan-san-remo

Roquentin

marvin80 wrote: »

Degenkolb tipped by Sean Kelly during the week:

https://www.seankellycycling.com/blog/milan-san-remo

why wasnt kelly commentating. always tune in when he is but he wasnt today. not on eurosport anyway. the other guy wasnt bad. but still, cant beat kelly

Craig06

When are etixx gonna fix the problem with the stupid groupset

nak

Roquentin wrote: »

why wasnt kelly commentating. always tune in when he is but he wasnt today. not on eurosport anyway. the other guy wasnt bad. but still, cant beat kelly

Kelly was at a Chain Reaction sportive in Belfast.

MPFG

Paul Kimmage's interview of Nicolas Roche ( Thought I'd put it hereas no where else )

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-kimmage-on-why-nicolas-roche-is-determined-to-be-his-own-man-in-the-peloton-and-off-the-bike-31085204.html

Diet & weight are really his Achilles heel

Beasty

MPFG wrote: »

Paul Kimmage's interview of Nicolas Roche ( Thought I'd put it hereas no where else )

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-kimmage-on-why-nicolas-roche-is-determined-to-be-his-own-man-in-the-peloton-and-off-the-bike-31085204.html

Diet & weight are really his Achilles heel

TBH I think age has definitely caught up with Kimmage and that's holding him back more than his diet nowadays:pac:

dastardly00

MPFG wrote: »

Paul Kimmage's interview of Nicolas Roche ( Thought I'd put it hereas no where else )

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-kimmage-on-why-nicolas-roche-is-determined-to-be-his-own-man-in-the-peloton-and-off-the-bike-31085204.html

Diet & weight are really his Achilles heel

Really good article.

funnights74

Sagan looked like he had it won at the end of the descent but always the bridesmaid. Tons of ability but I wonder psychologically has he got it?

JK.BMC

G Thomas is such an honest and classy rider; if he were to win Flanders it would be some kind of justice for all the work he does. If he were in a belgian team maybe he wud have a better overall palmares?

Konkers

http://m.bbc.com/sport/cycling/31958848

Speaking of G. Thomas. Nice little article on who he favours for the spring classics and he predicted degenkolbs win.

ROK ON

JK.BMC wrote: »

G Thomas is such an honest and classy rider; if he were to win Flanders it would be some kind of justice for all the work he does. If he were in a belgian team maybe he wud have a better overall palmares?

One of my favourite riders but infuriating. If you asked me 3-4 years ago I honestly believed he would have a monument by now. I would like to see him get one soon. The problem with having a big engine in a team like Sky is that you spend a lot of time working. That said they have upped their classics game.

Great win for Degenkolb a man who despite a strong palmares often seems overlooked versus Kittel. I usually find MSR fairly boring but yesterday was a bloody good race.

ZiabR

MPFG wrote: »

Paul Kimmage's interview of Nicolas Roche ( Thought I'd put it hereas no where else )

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-kimmage-on-why-nicolas-roche-is-determined-to-be-his-own-man-in-the-peloton-and-off-the-bike-31085204.html

Diet & weight are really his Achilles heel

Thats a great read!

MPFG

logik wrote: »

Thats a great read!

Yes...Kimmage when he is not being an aggressive foul mouth is an excellent interviewer ...He leads people where he wants them to go

Nico's mom Lydia is still very good looking alright...better looking than his fiance IMO

But Roche remains for me so frustrating...dieting in the middle of races and getting bonks ... not losing the weight when not racing to be at the top....Guess he has decided what he is prepared to do or not to do as the case maybe in his career...pity as he is a very climber and if light enough would be up there IMO..He seems to have parked personal ambition

I guess in any sport it is how determined you are to be at the top level
Very honest interview though

Lumen

MPFG wrote: »

Nico's mom Lydia is still very good looking alright...better looking than his fiance IMO

Seriously?

MPFG

Lumen wrote: »

Seriously?

Its just an opinion ...His fiance has youth and prettiness on her side but his Mom is good looking

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004249758956&fref=ts

Brian?

ROK ON wrote: »

Great win for Degenkolb a man who despite a strong palmares often seems overlooked versus Kittel. I usually find MSR fairly boring but yesterday was a bloody good race.

Really? MSR is usually a great race.

Degenkolb is a different kind of rider to Kittel. Kittel is much more suited to a properly GT stages where he's delivered to the front by a train and has the raw speed to beat anyone. Degenkolb is a great finisher over a rolling course like MSR, where lead out trains are non existent.

Ride of the day yesterday, IMO, was Luca Paolini. His chase of Geraint Thomas was unreal.

buffalo

Darkglasses

buffalo wrote: »

Must've had a bet on Gilbert.

Diarmuid

The should have run that gif on. He took a bike then from a mechanic and the back wheel just fell out

bwalsh1983

Who was that? Farrar?

lennymc

ciolek i think. MTN Qhebeka (or however you spell it). Won the race a few years ago.

dastardly00

bwalsh1983 wrote: »

Who was that? Farrar?

Gerald Ciolek. He won MSR back in 2013. He would have fancied his chances yesterday. Although he probably wouldn't have had the outright speed in the sprint to beat Degenkolb, Sagan, Matthews etc.

Ryath

lennymc wrote: »

ciolek i think. MTN Qhebeka (or however you spell it). Won the race a few years ago.

I thought it was a fan at first bit thick around the middle for a pro cyclist!

neris

is the lad in the quick step jersey a fan or a team member of some sort?