Four-time grand tour champion Vincenzo Nibali attacked on the Poggio to ride to victory in the 109th Milan-San Remo that finished on the Via Roma today.
Four-time grand tour champion Vincenzo Nibali won the Milan-San Remo, the first of the season’s five monuments, in a nail-biting finish in Italy today. Photo: Fabio Ferrari
The Italian from Bahrain-Merida reached the bottom of the Poggio with a nine-second advantage over the peloton, which included all of the favourites, including last year’s top three in Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), Slovakia’s Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors).
Nibali was able to hang on over the final 2.2km to cross the line in 7:18:43 after 294km of racing in cold and rainy conditions to add the year’s first monument to his palmares after also winning last season’s final monument, the Giro di Lombardia.
Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and France’s 2016 champion Arnaud Demare (FDJ) completed the podium in the same time.
Germany’s Marcus Burghardt, working for team leader Sagan, set the early pace up the Poggio. After his effort, he was caught and passed by Luxembourg’s Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC).
Latvia’s Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) was the next to attack, with Nibali following him before counter-attacking to go clear halfway up the day’s final climb.
The Shark of Messina crested the telling ascent first and faced 5.5km to the finish below. At this point, Italy’s Daniel Oss was driving the field to get Sagan back in contention.
Nibali, who is known for his descending skills, hit the bottom of the downhill with a small gap and went into time-trial mode in an effort to defend his advantage as the sprinters hunted him down.
Earlier in the race, a group of nine went away, building a maximum lead of around five minutes. The breakaway was trimmed down to four riders on one of the small climbs leading to the Cipressa and, with 38km to go, they hung on to a 30-second lead.
The quartet – Italy’s Matteo Bono (UAE-Emirates), Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani-CSF) and Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) and Duchman Dennis van Winden (ICA) – were eventually reeled in with 30km to go as the peloton approached the Cipressa, the second to last climb.
All the favourites arrived together at the top of the Cipressa with 21km to go, which meant the race would be decided on the Poggio, which came 9km from the finish.
Britain’s 2009 champion Mark Cavendish (DiData) crashed while exiting a roundabout with 10km to go.
