Welcome to Milan for the depart of Milan – San Remo! It’s been a festive morning with Pozzato signing jerseys and even Ponzi taking the time to meet the fans. But now that they line up the atmosphere gets a little more intense, as a lot rides on the result today. As for the weather it's sunny but a little chilly, alongside a light breeze.
Senyenov kicks off the morning’s attacks! Following him is:
Sulimov Allonca Carpenter Mudorra Bravo
Especially interesting that the two big puncheurs teams don’t want to be chasing today.
This move was apparently too big for the peloton and the Kazakh heads off a new, more promising trio soon after.
Senyenov Allonca Malori
Both the Italian and the Kazakh are strong riders so their involvement is quite interesting, although the distance is surely too long for them to have a large impact on the race.
The peloton hasn’t been pushing it too hard and comes to the Passo del Turchino and the halfway point of the race 8’30 after the break. A lot of teams are giving a couple men to the chase, with Spotify, Evonik, Moser, Hugo Boss, Iberia and Aker particularly prominent.
The fast speed on the descent leads to a tumble though! It takes a large group of riders down – including Van der Lijke! Many other strong puncheurs also were caught up in the wreckage including:
Klemme Siskevicius Palini Dieteren Furdi
Fortunately, there’s a long way to go and no reason for them to have any trouble getting back, except for Dieteren, who has to abandon.
Further down the climb Gjølberg shoots off the side of the road and has to be taken into the race ambulance on a stretcher. Really not a good way to kick off the more exciting half of the race.
On La Manie we see a familiar face, perhaps the last time Pozzato will lead the MSR peloton as he pulls the breaks lead down below 6 minutes.
And as it begins to rain Hermans attacks! Still 40km left for him and nobody wants to accompany him, so it may be a tall order for the Belgian to keep clear.
The move only lasts for a couple kilometres, as Sulimov and Smirnovs pull him back without too much of a struggle on the final rise before the Cipresa. It also looks to be the end of the breakaway.
Or maybe not, Hermans goes again! He’s accompanied by Coppel and Kadri and the extra support of two powerful riders may make all the difference.
Behind, as Evonik powers the chase, a few riders are dropped, including Van der Lijke, who is obviously suffering terribly from him crash.
Bad news at a crucial moment! Enger touches Gavazzi’s wheel on the way down and both hit the deck!
Then to make matters worse, the group of dropped riders have to negotiate the crash site, where Polivoda, Avetisyan and Mclay are caught off guard and end up on the ground as well.
With 28km left the attacks are brought back again and immediately Coppel tries again, really making life difficult for the sprinters teams.
And so we begin the Cipressa Coppel has a 20 second lead as Dzamastagic ramps up the pace for the 4.6km climb. None of the sprinters are in the top 20 riders at the moment though with Holloway, Demare and Houle best positioned around 25 riders back, with most of the best sprinters hidden away a little behind that, although especially Ahlstrand and Swift are dangerously far back, which is especially odd because the Swede has many teammates at the front of the pack.
And near the peak of the climb a dummy attack by Camilo spurs Ponzi into action! Reimer, Ignatiev and Demare were waiting for this and are right on his wheel, although Bellis and Bystrom are leading the peloton to stay with them. With Hosek, Bewley, Dakteris Hermans and Kolesnikov right behind them
We begin the search for the sprinters, as mentioned Bewley is right up there in the first 10 riders, so too a couple of weaker sprinters like Lander and Sbaragli, Houle is also close at hand but it’s a long wait until we see any other pure guys, with about 30 riders between Bewley and the next pure sprinter, Degenkolb and even Van Staeyen is near the German.
The attacks stretch the pack but fail to split it, however they succeed in bringing Coppel back, meaning that as Hosek takes over the pace setting for the descent there is nobody ahead of the 142 riders in this pack.
Once on the flat again between the two climbs, Dzamastagic takes over pacesetting, but soon he realises his leader is missing and goes to search for him, the loss of power on the front prompts Ignatiev to attack now! 17km to go for the Russian.
In other news the climb proved too much for Vanderbeist and Zabel who will just have to roll home now.
As a large gap quickly forms Ponzi and Coppel realise that this move could be serious, the two decide to collaborate with the aims of negating the attack, further stretching out the pack with their power.
The high pace forces a big split in the pack! Just 67 riders in the main group now and some surprising names missing, including Swift and Gastauer! Coquard is also a victim of his own teamate’s work as well as Petit and Dowsett.
And it’s time for Trofimov to lead the pack onto the Poggio, 22 seconds after Ignatiev! Behind the Russian a line of riders:
Demare wants every sprinter gone and begins to set a gruelling pace! And it’s working, as more riders are shelled out the back, with Boeckmans, Dzamastagic, Hermans, Klemme and Hansen all being distanced, while Degenkolb and Guarnieri hang on for dear life.
As Demare’s efforts nearly finish Ignatiev’s move, the bunch splits again! Holloway, Coppel, Grosu, Modolo, Degenkolb and Guarnieri all can’t take the pace!
The final push over the peak of the climb brings the escapee back as Bellis takes over. 8 more riders are dropped in the final metres, which is hugely unfortunate for Ahlstrand, Kristoff, Lander, Kelderman, Sagan and Dakteris. While the remaining 23 riders in the peloton are:
Many isolated riders means a huge advantage to those with teammates. However, it looks like the Spotify riders are sitting up to help Ahlstrand!
Yep, Spotify took a huge risk here with all three riders dropping back on the descent, they have a 30 second gap to close as Ginanni leads us into the final 2.5km.
1.3km left and Spotify has realised it’s mistake as they manage to make it back to this group, sans Ahlstrand, but they are much too late! Now Bellis leads as Van Avermaet kicks off the sprint for a perfectly placed Van Staeyen, while Borges blocks Roelandts from getting on the Belgian’s wheel.
On the other side Ginanni and Demare follow Bellis, with Trofimov, Ponzi and a patient Bewley on the Italian’s wheel. Houle is also well-placed for the sprint.
The absolute perfect lead-out! Van Avermaet’s job is done as Van Staeyen releases with 800 metres left! Roelandts and Bewley pose the biggest threats, while Borges has found great positioning and another length behind Demare and Bellis go for it!
500 metres, surely Van Staeyen has this now! However Roelandts and Bewley are still coming at it like a pair of freight trains! Borges is 4th and fighting for it, Van Avermaet would like to hold his top 5, Houle is next and coming up fast, so too are Demare and Bellis!
Possibly the greatest moment of Van Stayen’s career, he raises his arms and salutes San Remo, what a win, what a race! Roelandts holds off Bewley for second, no mean feat on its own, as for the New Zealander, maybe a little disappointing to not do the hatrick but a podium is a podium.
After that, Borges stunning performance grants him 4th, before Houle, who just started his sprint too far back. Demare perhaps worked too much but still got 6th, while Bellis must be pretty happy for 7th before Italian star Ponzi. Ignatiev’s wonderful attack won him 9th and Koretzky just throws his bike past Van Stayen’s hero, Van Avermaet for the final place in the top 10.
A huge tactical blunder for Spotify, with a huge numbers advantage of three powerful sprinters they waited for their exhausted leader and lost out big, ending up with 18th, 19th and 20th. You’ve gotta feel for them.
He’ll have to savour this moment. The man of the day, Michael Van Stayen collects his flowers as he raises his hands on the podium, a wonderful monument victory for him and his team!
