The long and winding road into Sanremo awaits us, including the ascents of the Passo del Turchino, the three Capi, le Manie, the Cipressa and finally the Poggio.
So here we are at the startline, with 176 riders lining up for a long, long day in the saddle. The weather is overcast, which I believe is a first for the management game, with showers looking likely (this also makes the frame rate of the game drop. A lot).
The first attack takes a surprising 20km to get going, and it is Perget (Bacardi), who is joined first by Zahner (UBS) and then by...
...Burlutsky (Armavia). Way to go and be aggressive wildcard team!
So, with 3 riders on the attack now, time for a flurry of attacks plus a frantic pace from the peloton to chase down and get their own rider in the break...
...or not. Yep, it's one of the most prestigious races in cycling, three riders have decided to go in the break of the day, and nobody else has done anything about it. Bizarre.
Pokerstars take up the majority of the pacemaking, with Wallays on the front here. The pace is not remotely difficult however, and the breakaway quickly builds up a quick lead.
213km to go, and with the gap approaching 7 minutes, the threatening weather finally stops threatening and starts acting, with rainfall beginning to, well, fall.
As the break starts the ascent of the Tuchino, the rain stops, but the gap has not stopped increasing, with another 2 minutes added.
The world's least convincing commentator pumps through my audio feed, informing us that the race has reached the halfway point as the break go through the tunnel at the top of the Turchino. The gap is now nearly ten minutes.
The peloton top the Turchino, but have started to up the pace, led by the sprinter teams of Pokerstars, Vesuvio, Puma and Lotto. It's started raining again, which will make the descent trickier...
...for Roman Vanderbiest (Pearl). He and Rabottini (Wiggle) take tumbles in the slippy conditions, but easily rejoin the peloton.
The break hit Le Manie with the gap now down to six and a half minutes. They're working well together...
...but so is the peloton, with the sprinters teams sharing the work (although it needs to be pointed out that anytime you see a Lotto rider on the front, it's always Claeys. That boy was a phenomenal domestique today).
The first rider to be dropped is Nechita (1t4i). This is worth pointing out because in the five or so test runs of this race, he is the first to be dropped everytime, and finishes last everytime. Yet he has the prettiest outfit!
The Capi start with the Capo Mele, and the break now have a great view of the fast approaching peloton, with the gap now under 4 minutes with 50km to go.
14km later at the final and hardest Capi, the Capo Cervo,the gap is down to 2'45. It's been a long day for the break, and no reward shall come of it.
The peloton follow them into the final Capi, and a sense of urgency now grips the pack. It's interesting to see the floods of green, red and yellow at the front of the "bunch packed", as the sprinters' teams continue to try and control the race.
BANG! First attack, and Marcus Burghardt (Bacardi) unleashes a ferocious attack on the Capo Cervo. This rather sedentary race just got interesting, as in his wheel follows...
...Langeveld (Heineken), Cancellara (Red Bull), Fouquet (Koenigsegg) and Summerhill (Wikipedia). What is going on? The hard men of the northern classics have come out to play, where are the puncheurs? Bizarre.
The puncheurs are chasing, that's where they are! Although bizarrely, it's Summerhill's teammate, Tejay Van Garderen (Wikipedia) who pulls them back on the descent. Bizarre
But maybe not so bizarre? Roux (Bacardi) launches an attack at the bottom of the descent, and Van Garderen tries to follow!
They fail pretty quickly, and a lull now until the Cipressa? No! It's, it's, who is it...
POZZATO (Heineken)!
Pozzato launches off at a ferocious pace, with Ignatiev (Wiggle) in his wheel. This is it, he's gone full gas!
These two quickly create a gap, and zone in on the break of the day, trying to catch them before the Cipressa.
The rain has started again, are these the omens of an almost biblical victory for Pozzato?
On the Cipressa, and Pozzato catches the break and goes straight past them, a gap of 43 seconds back to the peloton.
But the peloton has woken up, and woken up in a big way! The favourites for the race are now on the front, with Hagen now piling on the pressure.
Halfway up the Cipressa, and Igantiev is trying to claw his way back up to Pozzato...
...but over the top of the climb, and he's losing ground. 21 secons between Pozzato and Ignatiev, 15 seconds between Igantiev and the bunch. The bunch is still very large at 154 riders though!
So now we descend the Cipressa and hit the flat between it and the Poggio. Pozzato is going flat out now, with the gap up to 53 seconds.
The peloton are getting organised though, and it's Vesuvio and Wikipedia who do the work, catching Ignatiev
In fact, every team seems completely united in chasing down Pozzato, even 2011 winner Ballan (Koenigsegg) taking a turn! Gap now at 41 seconds, Pozzato needs to hold onto this lead until the Poggio starts.
But at the foot of the Poggio, Pozzato's last hurdle, the gap is now 33 seconds. The home fans are roaring him on...
...but now the big boys have come out to play, as Gilbert (Pendleton's) and Ponzi (Wiggle) mount the chase, looking for their own chances.
And it's all over for Pozzato. Ponzi makes the catch, and the tifosi are robbed of what would have gone down in management game folklore.
Everything then goes terrible.
The pack meander up the Poggio at a training pace, with none of the puncheurs trying to drop the sprinters.
Surprisingly, it is Ignatiev, the rider overshadowed earlier by Pozzato who makes the attack at the top.
The race is kicked back into life, as it is again the northern classics riders who liven the race, with Ballan, Cancellara, Summerhill and Burghardt trying to follow him.
No dice though, this is going to be a sprint.
The rider in the middle in the yellow of Puma is Bennati, behind him is Bewley (Milka) and the familiar figure of Tom Boonen occupies prime place just behind him. All that is missing is Ben Swift, who is about 30 places back and struggling after the exertion of the Poggio (and the distance too).
So, this is it. Bennati. Bewley. Boonen. The three B's, the three sprinters in a battle for La Primavera! Bennati leads out...
...and still leads out...
...and still leads out as we go under the kite. Bewley and Boonen make their moves!
No prizes for guessing the winner!
Bennati led out for too long, but holds onto third. Hagen takes a strong fourth, whilst the invisible Ulissi, last year's winner, somehow takes fourth. Ignatiev deserves more than his 26th, as does Pozzato in 11th.
1
Tom Boonen
Pokerstars.com
7h17'22
2
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
s.t.
3
Daniele Bennati
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
4
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
5
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
6
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
s.t.
7
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
8
Philippe Gilbert
Pendleton's
s.t.
9
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Stefan Schumacher
UBS - BMC
s.t.
11
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
12
Daryl Impey
Aker - MOT
s.t.
13
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
s.t.
14
Daniel Oss
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
15
Michael Van Stayen
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
16
Danny Summerhill
Wikipedia
s.t.
17
Marcel Wyss
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
18
Fabian Cancellara
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
19
Julien Simon
Project 1t4i
s.t.
20
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
21
Steven Kruijswijk
Team B&O
s.t.
22
Martin Reimer
Team Vueling Airlines
s.t.
23
Frantisek Rabon
Milka - AVG
s.t.
24
Evgeni Sokolov
Team Bacardi
s.t.
25
Alessandro Ballan
Koenigsegg
s.t.
26
Mikhail Ignatiev
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
27
Anthony Roux
Team Bacardi
s.t.
28
Jack Bauer
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
29
Nick Nuyens
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
30
Danilo Wyss
UBS - BMC
s.t.
31
Geert Steurs
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
32
Nick Kinney
Wikipedia
s.t.
33
Mickaël Delage
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
34
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
35
Toms Skujins
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
36
Maurice Schreurs
Team Vueling Airlines
s.t.
37
Sebastian Langeveld
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
38
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
39
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
s.t.
40
Santo Anza
Koenigsegg
s.t.
41
Andrei Grivko
Team B&O
s.t.
42
Raúl Granjel Cabrera
Koenigsegg
s.t.
43
Wilco Kelderman
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
44
Jay McCarthy
Wikipedia
s.t.
45
Enrico Gasparotto
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
46
Jonathan McEvoy
Pendleton's
s.t.
47
Thomas De Gendt
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
48
Ethan Weiss
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
49
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
50
Bauke Mollema
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
51
Patrik Sinkewitz
Team Vueling Airlines
s.t.
52
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
53
Matthew Goss
Wikipedia
s.t.
54
Ben Swift
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
55
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
s.t.
56
Lars Ytting Bak
Team Vueling Airlines
s.t.
57
Laurent Pichon
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
58
Matthieu Ladagnous
Pendleton's
s.t.
59
Nathan Haas
Aker - MOT
s.t.
60
Christophe Kern
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
61
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
62
Tom Diggle
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
63
Jurgen Van Goolen
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
64
Kevin Van Impe
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
65
Mario Vogt
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
66
Marcello Pavarin
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
67
Kleber Silva
Pendleton's
s.t.
68
Christopher Juul-Jensen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
69
Alexandre Aulas
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
70
Jukka Vastaranta
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
71
Kevin Fouquet
Koenigsegg
s.t.
72
Ioannis Tamouridis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
73
Wes Sulzberger
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
74
Óscar Guerao
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
75
Travis Meyer
Wikipedia
s.t.
76
Morgan Kneisky
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
77
Domenik Klemme
Team B&O
s.t.
78
Vegard Stake Laengen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
79
Morten Reckweg
Team B&O
s.t.
80
Pedro Merino Criado
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
81
John Degenkolb
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
82
Fabio Felline
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
83
Amaël Moinard
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
84
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
s.t.
85
Pieter Ghyllebert
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
