Takes a deep breath Italy. The boot shaped country in Southern Europe, famed for its impact all throughout history. Notorious for its hate for disrespecting tradition and known for proud sporting achievements, even if the glory days for the most part is beyond them. One of those traditions is the monument of Milano San Remo. The daunting day under the Italian winter sun. Last year’s winner Mauri Vansevenant and the rest of the pack traversed the rolling nearly 300km parcours in 6 hours and 21 minutes last year, safe to say that is not what you would call a regular day at the job.
And Milano San Remo is anything but regular, its sheer length makes it a daunting task for the most daring sprinters that feel audacious enough to challenge the greatest puncheurs in the world as the riders towards the end of the race goes over the iconic Cipressa and Poggio climbs that have put many a man into the dust over the years.
And while the early history of the race was dominated by domestic heroes claiming the wins, long gone are the times of Pozzato, Ricco and Ballan taking career defining victories. Ricco’s win in 2014 is the most recent Italian win which marks this as potentially the 12th edition in a row to not have an Italian winner. Last year Andrea Bagioli came agonizingly close to breaking the curse but was unable to keep up with Vansevenant in the sprint. Speaking of sprinting if the pack is able to stay together this year, we might finally see a jubilant Italian with his arms raised to sky as the highest rated sprinter was born around 2 hours away from the start line in Milano. Without further ado let’s get into the favourites list:
Favourites:
The aforementioned sprinter is of course Dainese. The Italian got an off season bump to his sprinting abilities and has been a relatively consistent feature in the Pro Tour sprints so far this season. However, with most recent editions not going down to a traditional bunch sprint he might not be top of podium come end of the day. Other strong sprinting options include Cullaigh, Farantakis and Philipsen who all three should be in the running for some actual strong results but none of them have really made a big splash in this monument in recent memory. Kanter has also had some bright spots this year and could be an outside chance on your parlay but it’s one of those that you don’t expect to hit. Further down the pure sprinting ability list we find riders such as Pedersen who won the race in 2022, Ackermann who has the skillset to follow the puncheurs should the race that route as well as Groves whose previous experience in the race would suggest that he wants to prove that he can do it on the biggest stage.
Rider
Fl
HI
ST
SP
AC
FT
Dainese
76
69
75
82
82
64
Cullaigh
74
67
73
82
81
66
Farantakis
74
66
75
82
80
61
Philipsen
74
69
74
81
80
63
Kanter
75
67
75
81
80
65
Halvorsen
76
65
74
81
80
70
Groves
75
72
75
80
79
64
Peak
80
69
73
80
78
64
Hsu
75
67
75
80
79
67
Aniolkowski
76
66
76
80
79
57
Banaszek
74
65
71
80
81
65
Nur Hasan
74
64
74
80
78
73
Zijlaard
76
71
72
79
79
61
Ovsyannikov
74
69
75
79
78
71
Pedersen
77
69
78
78
77
75
Vermeersch
78
69
76
78
77
68
Scott
72
66
72
78
78
60
Phonarjthan
74
64
72
78
77
64
Ackermann
72
77
75
77
80
66
Siric
78
71
77
77
71
60
Moving onto the puncheurs the biggest favourite of them all should be last year’s winner Vansevenant. 2024 champion Pidcock also makes his return albeit calling him a puncheur is probably stretching the concept a little bit, but has anyone actually ever stopped to ask Pidcock what he defines himself as? Lopez is the highest rated based purely on his climbing ability but we have not seen his archetype of rider find a lot of success in San Remo in recent memory whereas someone like Mohoric, Bagioli and Romo all have recent podium finishes here despite being seen as much more one dimensional than the Colombian, who might be in with his last shot at claiming San Remo as an addition to his palmares as age is gonna start catching up to him next year.
Rider
Fl
HI
ST
SP
AC
FT
Lopez
70
84
76
66
78
80
Mohoric
72
83
78
67
77
71
Vansevenant
74
82
79
70
80
80
Bagioli
71
81
77
71
78
77
Stannard
73
81
75
69
78
77
Valter
72
80
76
69
78
73
Gesbert
71
80
80
68
73
76
Romo
71
80
78
67
71
78
Trakhov
68
79
78
69
75
70
Aleotti
74
79
78
65
75
69
Evenepoel
75
79
79
64
71
81
Skujins
66
79
74
64
70
62
Sossa
69
79
77
62
72
75
De Plus
72
79
74
61
72
68
Nys
71
78
75
70
76
71
Gaudu
73
78
78
68
70
69
Buchmann
68
78
68
62
68
64
Strakhov
69
78
77
61
70
64
Ackermann
72
77
75
77
80
66
Conca
74
77
74
74
76
78
Pidcock
78
76
75
74
81
74
Spoiler
Rider Valter Geniets Nuha De Lie Gaze Anderberg Colombo Eekhoff Gesbert Zegklis Kvist Van Aert Dainese Rickaert Kiskonen Blume Levy Roman Costiou Kunkumpai Wenzel Gajdulewicz Peak Mihkels Hellemose Menten Dalby Pedersen Finkst Cannister Andersen Wright Fedorov Duric Siric Stojnic Philipsen Kajamini Zana Bonnamour Thornley Ballerini Steimle Cullaigh Buratti Nys Januskevicius Bauer Kanter Singh Videika Varga Lauk Gregoire Gautherat Verstrynge Martinez Brunel Forbes Baudin Katrasnik De Plus Gaudu Soulious Cavagna Koumpetsos Boutopoulos Kortsidakis Farantakis Lopez Luchshenko Calmejane Budzinski Gayral Oliveira Ansons Vermeersch Vansevenant Buchmann Denz Hermans Schelling Havik Aleotti Malecki Budenieks Baroncini Kubis Vahtra Horvat Stokbro Abrahamsen Ssabagwanya Pithie Eulalio Foss Per Bohli Johansen Kasperkiewicz Groves Zukowsky Sam Scott Vandevelde Trezise Gilmore Schiffer Revelo Sagiv Bittner Casillas Fredheim Nur Hasan Kogut Conca Ganna Matsuda Salzmann Hayter Salazar Hsu Phonarjthan Barrenetxea Arvanitou Feldmann Bagnara Fisher-Black Van Uden Milan Quadrelli Stannard Fratczak Fretin Stewart Moricz Halvorsen Rekita Demiri Bagioli Rota Chiu Juntunen Oldani Sweeny Christensen Nych Evenepoel Sossa Gerts Frigo Garofoli Zijlaard Aniolkowski Marsman Romo Skujins Ackermann De Vos Cemazar Ramsay Kloppenborg Holm Jorgensen Mohoric Trakhov Strakhov Razumov Senechal Zakarin Banaszek Adria Morgado Hefnar Pedersen Ovsyannikov Per Van De Paar Madan Pidcock O'Brien Redy Meiler Bennett Frankovic Novardianto Van Niekerk
Thanks for the nice preview! We’be brought a strong team generally aimed at supporting Dainese, but with Gesbert as a good option should it end up being a battle between the puncheurs. Both should be a good fit for this course. Looking forward to the report!
Well, then! Really, really hopeful for this one Feels like De Lie, with his early outings this season, could be a perfect rider for a surprise top 10 if it comes down to a sprint depending on positioning and stamina.
If it gets to be a race for the puncheurs/late attackers, we've got Valter to cover, which shoul be a great fit. Definitely hoping for a top 10 here, where we also are in contention for the monument win. Excited!
It's the win goal for me and after the last editions, Vansevenant surely it's capable to do so. He will need his attacking spirit though. Can't wait for a big group to sprint it out.
All climbs need to be ridden as difficult as possible and the team should be capable doing so.
A win goal, though more out of necessity than choice - not a realistic win goal by any means. Peak is here instead of Gaviria as we don't have a team capable of controlling the race, so it made more sense to let someone else do that and hope for a bit of luck.
Milano San Remo 
Feels like De Lie, with his early outings this season, could be a perfect rider for a surprise top 10 if it comes down to a sprint depending on positioning and stamina.
