France’s Julian Alaphilippe timed his final attack over the last few hundred metres of 291km Milan-San Remo to perfection today, sprinting to victory on the Via Roma.
Alaphilippe completed the 110th edition of the race in 6:40:14, beating AG2R La Mondiale’s Oliver Naesen and Team Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski in the final sprint.
Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Julian Alaphilippe crossing the line in elation to win the Milan-San Remo today. Photo: LaPresse- D’Alberto/Ferrari/Alpozzi
The Deceuninck-QuickStep rider formed part of a select group which converged on the Poggio with 7km remaining.
EF Education First’s Alberto Bettiol launched an attack from within the peloton to set up the break. Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski were the first riders to respond.
Various others joined the fray as the break held a narrow lead over the chasing group.
The lead of the breakaway group kept changing hands, with former world champion Peter Sagan surging ahead down the Poggio with less than 4km remaining.
Mitchelton-Scott’s Matteo Trentin was the first to attack on the descent within the last two kilometres, but he was caught with 1.5km to go.
A group of 11 riders headed into the final kilometre before Bahrain-Merida’s Matej Mohorič attacked. Again it was Alaphilippe who followed.
Various riders, including Sagan, Kwiatkowski and even defending champ Bahrain-Merida’s Vincenzo Nibali, who came from behind, took turns at the head of the peloton.
It became a waiting game in the closing few hundred metres as riders looked around to see who would launch an attack.
Alaphilippe took the initiative and he managed to hold on to cross the line first, claiming his seventh victory of the season.
“It’s difficult to realise what I did and what my team did,” said Alaphilippe, who won the Strade Bianche earlier this month. “They protected me all day.
“I was really focused on controlling the attack and with 600m to go, when Mohoric attacked, I said ‘it’s now or never’.
“It’s unbelievable. I saw my teammates after the finish and everybody was crying.
“I put in a big effort at the top of the Poggio to make a big selection and to see what could happen. At the end I was only with strong riders and I tried to recover on the downhill. In the last 2km I said I wanted to win; no second place.
“I need time to realise [what I’ve achieved] – I’m very happy.”
The day’s break comprised a group of 10 riders – Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli), Mirco Maestri, Alessandro Tonelli (both Bardiani CSF), Guy Sagiv (Israel Cycling Academy), Luca Raggio, Sebastian Schonberger (both Neri Sottoli), Joonas Henttala, Andrea Peron, Charles Planet and Umberto Poli (all Novo Nordisk).
The break held a few minutes’ gap over the peloton for approximately 250km of the race, before eventually being caught.
The peloton ascended the race’s second-last climb, the Cipressa, together, as Direct Energie Niccolò Bonifazio had his moment of fame when he attacked on the descent and soloed ahead.
That was short-lived however, as he got caught with 10km to go, before the climax of the race ensued.
