Milano – Sanremo – Part 1

Welcome everyone to the first World Tour Classic & first monument of the season, La Primavera!
Most of the time one of the most exciting races of the year, let’s hope today is no exception!
Will Sagan finally win his first monument? Will one of the 3 topsprinters take this one? Will Cancellara take revenge for last year? Will a late attack decide this one? We’ll find all of this out somewhere in the next hours. Enjoy!
293km – The riders started the race, take a good seat, it’s going to be a long one!

289km –

There are the first attacks! Anacona(LAM), Delfosse(CRE), Soupe(FDJ), Pirazzi(BAR), Guido(MTN), Andrews(GRS) & Selvaggi(VAC) want to take part.
284km – A group of 7 guys are 1’30 ahead. Those are Andrews, Guido, Anacona, Delfosse, Soupe, Pirazzi & now also Finetto(VIN). A group of 4, with Appolonio(ALM), Kump(TST), Garcia(EUS) & Selvaggi is hanging between the first group and the peloton.
281km –
Even more guys attacked now, now also members from the bigger teams. Hondo(RLT), Tuft(OGE), Hayman(SKY) and Bille(LTB) give it a go. The peloton has a calm pace is and willing to let all these guys go, it seems.
274km –
They all merged into one, strong, group. The breakaway contains 15 riders now, and they have roughly 4 minutes.
250km – The escapees have 6 minutes. The pace in the peloton is quite slow. Cannondale, Argos & OPQ are the teams working, yet not working very hard.
210km – Gap is 8’30. No worries.
180km – The peloton seems to wake up a bit, while the escapees reached 9 minutes.

151km –

While the escapees reached the highest point of the race(473m), the gap is reduced to 7’20. The peloton surely doesn’t want to take risks today.

137km -
The attackers reached the coast now, the gap between them and the peloton is now under 7 minutes. Meanwhile, Vichot(FDJ) has fallen inside the peloton, but he isn’t hurt.

95km –
Le Mànie, a tough hill, has now been reached by the peloton. The escapees are 4’40 ahead now, and especially Argos & Cannondale are working, getting a bit help from Omega Pharma & Lotto now and then.
72km – The pack seem to have slowed down a bit now, allowing guys that dropped early to get back. The gap is just more than 3 minutes now.

62km –

Hushovd(BMC), one of the sprinters that can handle hills quite well, has a puncture, on what could be a crucial moment with the pack speeding up. The escapees are less than 3 minutes in front now.
56km – Hushovd manages to get back, luckily for him. It might’ve cost him some energy though.
50km –

While the attackers are 2’20 ahead, Tom Boonen appears to do chasing work. OPQ seems to put all their cards on Cavendish then. The pack still contains 177 men, but things are getting more hilly now.
46km –

Ballan(BMC) goes for an attack! It should be too early on his own, shouldn’t it? Also, Lars Boom(BEL) has fallen off his bike, but he can continue to stay in the pack.
41km –

While reaching the Capo Berta, the last tough hill before the Cipressa, Ballan still is around 45 seconds ahead of the pack, but a minute behind the front group.
37km –
While Ballan almost reached the escapees, Guido(MTN) & Hondo(RLT) try to shake off the other escapees with an attack.
At the same time, quite some riders seem to drop from the peloton, leaving a group around 100 men. Notable dropped riders are: D.Cervero(FDJ), N.Bouhanni(FDJ), A.Petacchi(OPQ), M.Oget(MOV), G.Ciolek(MTN), and some good helpers.
34km – The attack of Guido & Hondo turns out not to be successful, and while other escapees try their luck as well, nobody successfully seems to get away. Paul Martens(BEL) manages to get away from the peloton though. The peloton is now 1’10 behind the early breakaway, which now includes Ballan!

32km –

Soupe(FDJ) & Appolonio(ALM) seem to get a small gap from their breakaway companions. Martens is still around 15 seconds away from the peloton, his attack doesn’t seem to have much potential, in contrast to Ballan’s, who’s still in the group of the early escapees.
30km – Soupe is the guy in front now, 25 seconds ahead of the 15-men attackers group, and nearing the start of the Cipressa climb.
I’m afraid we have to go on an commercial break now. This is the current situation:

E1: G.Soupe
+ ’25.
E2: 15 guys including Ballan. Custom Riders: Guido(MTN), Andrews(GRS)
+ ‘38
E3: Paul Martens(BEL)
+ ‘15
Peloton: 116 guys. Custom riders(from the front to the back): J.Krizan(CAN), E.McDermott(STB), N.De Vries(OPQ), P.Pal(FDJ), N.Stromberg(GRS), W.Brouwer(BEL), A.Hanzen(SKY), F.Brookes(BAR), R.Verboven(EUS), J.Riquelme(BEL),
+ 1’48
A1: S.Agostini(CAN)
+ ‘30
A2: 42 riders, including all the guys that dropped I named in the report. Custom riders(front to back): D.Cervero(FDJ), S.Pennarossa(CAN), C.Muriel(ALM), M.Oget(MOV),
+ ?
A3-A6: Some shattered groups who won’t come back to the peloton for sure…
Custom riders(front to back): J.Hintermuller(MTN), T.O’Callaghan(BAR).

Jesleyh wrote:
@The Hobbit Me too actually. I expected Delfi to at least stay with the peloton for a long time, since I didn't see any stats stopping him, only FTR & DH stopping him from getting a great result(since he has to attack since he won't win the sprint), and maybe FL, but I really saw him doing well here.

Milano – Sanremo – Part 2

30km – Welcome back! Short reminder: Soupe(FDJ) is 20 secs ahead of a 15-men group, including Ballan and some early escapees. The peloton is about a minute back, with only Martens sitting in between of both groups. Let’s now get back to the race!
29km – Martens managed to reach the Ballan Group. There’s a lot of disagreement now, which terribly slows the group down.
27km –
Things terribly changed now. Soupe is a minute ahead of the Ballan/Martens group, where Martens seems the only one working now. The peloton has them in their sights now.(30 seconds)

25km –
The Cipressa is reached now. Soupe is 1’30 ahead, Cannondale & LTB are the dominating forces on the front now.

23km – Orica decided to help chasing as well. 1’15 is the gap now, while we reached the second part of the Cipressa. It might be a good moment for an attack?

20km –
Nope, no attacks yet. While downhilling, Soupe has just over 1 minute, but he looks tired.

15km – Tuft setting an amazing pace now, after some bad organisation, the gap is now seriously getting smaller.

13km –
There it finally is! The moment everyone was expecting, Spartacus on the attack! The gap with Soupe is still 40 seconds, but there’s no doubt that Cancellara can reach him quickly.

11km –
Cancellara managed to get to Soupe, and even drop Soupe. The pack is on 30 seconds while we reached the Poggio. But no, they’re not really getting closer.

9500m –
While Soupe is slowly getting reeled in(while he has done a great job today), Cancellara is just getting started. He has a gap of 37 seconds now.

8700m –
It’s now even 45 seconds! Gilbert decided that action is required, and set an extremely tough pace. The sprinters are struggling to stay in the front rows now, but they still have sight on the front.

7000m –
Gap is brought back to 40 seconds, this might get really close! It looks like Vanmarcke(BEL) & Navardauskas(GRS) feel really good, they are the ones directly behind Gilbert. The others are Ballan(BMC), Sanchez(BEL), Sagan(CAN), Nibali(AST), Kwiatkowski(OPQ), Martin(GRS), Gerrans(OGE) & McDermott(TST).
The sprinters just fell of the screen there, but are still placed decently, but just having some trouble with the pace.

5500m – Spartacus reached the downhill, which is his speciality. Is it too late now?

4700m –
Cancellara is now a minute in front, it seems too late. The group behind is already making his sprint preparations. Greipel & Cavendish are in better positions now, Cav being in the Gorilla’s wheel. Kittel is a bit further back.

3200m(Cancellara) –
Cancellara looks certain to win this! He’s still a minute in front and going strong!

3000m(Peloton) –
While Cancellara is in the last 2km, the sprint preparation for 2nd place is hectic. Greipel found Roelandts’ wheel, and Cav’s in Greipels wheel, while Kittel is in Cav’s wheel. Renshaw(in front) lost Brouwer, and the Orica riders seem to go for their own success, not having any good sprinters in front. Sagan is in Gilbert’s wheel.

1300m(Cancellara) –
Cancellara can almost see the finish, this is going to be a heroic victory!


The peloton still is hectic, having 2200m to go, and with Kittel, Hanzen & Sagan searching for a new wheel to suck. Roelandts is burning himself out early.

Finish –
Cancellara does it! What a great win, he looks exhausted, but he did it!


Meanwhile, the sprinters have launched. With 1000m to go, it looks like its Cavendish vs Greipel.

500m peloton –
Greipel & Cavendish and Sagan as well now battling for 2nd. Greipel in front, but the other 2 are coming fast from behind. The fight for 5th place looks between Kristoff, Degenkolb, Hanzen & Gilbert. Kittel & Brouwer are more behind, they were stuck behind slower sprinters.

Finish peloton –
Greipel takes second after all! Sagan passed Cavendish for a podium finish, while Kristoff took 5th, in front of Gilbert. Hanzen gets 7th.

Results

1	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	6h42'03
2	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	+ 59
3	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
4	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Alexander Kristoff	Katusha Team	s.t.
6	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
7	Adrien Hanzen	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8	Ramunas Navardauskas	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
9	Sep Vanmarcke	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
10	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
11	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	s.t.
12	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
13	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
14	Grégory Rast	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
15	Simon Gerrans	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
16	Marcel Kittel	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
17	Erik McDermott	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
18	Willem Brouwer	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
19	Michał Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team	s.t.
20	Björn Leukemans	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

So, definitely an A-MA-ZING performance by Fabian Cancellara here. He really took revenge on last year. Everyone expected that he’d attack, and well, he did! Personally, I had hoped for some more puncheurs to attack. I guess the sprinters vs puncheurs battle is undecided, with Spartacus winning this?