Norway’s Alexander Kristoff sprinted to victory in another weather-affected edition of Milan-San Remo on Sunday.
The 294km marathon was played out in cold and wet conditions in northern Italy and came down to a reduced-bunch finish after the majority of the leading sprinters in the field had crested the day’s pivotal final climb in contention.
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) launched an early bid for the line and at one point looked on course for a repeat of his 2009 win, but the Manxman ran out of energy at the crucial moment and crossed the line sat back down in his saddle in fifth.
Kristoff (Katusha) waited longer to jump and then exploited an opening in the centre of the road to triumph by two bike-lengths from runner-up Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), who has now finished on the podium in the last four editions of the race.
Swift (Team Sky) followed closely behind in third, but will rue the fact that he was squeezed against the barrier on the left-hand side of the road by Cancellara and otherwise could have taken second, if not challenged for the victory.
As it was, Kristoff, who claimed bronze in the Olympic road race at London 2012, celebrated his second win of the season and biggest victory of his career.
He said afterwards: “I feel great. It was a fantastic victory. I didn’t really believe it until I had crossed the line that I had won Milan-San Remo. I was hoping maybe for a top-10 finish, but to win is incredible.” – Sky Sports
