The 2020 edition of the Milan-San Remo is upon us. As is always the case, with a race of this magnitude, there is palpable tension and anticipation on the start line. This year's profiles is one which should be quite familiar to the regular followers of cycling. The riders will tackle six climbs before ending the race in a short flat section. The climbs on the course today are the Pass del Turchino, Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, Capo Berta, Cipressa and Poggio. The final two climbs are favourites for the punchers to launch their attacks, while the teams of the sprinters will be hoping to keep the pack together till the finishing straight and put their riders into the best position.
The favourites' lists contains some huge names, including multiple former winners. The top sprinters and punchers have both turned up in strong numbers to try to write their names into history. Who will take out the win this time? Stay tuned and we'll find out in a few hours.
Favourites
FLA
HIL
STA
RES
SPR
ACC
Van Stayen
76
79
76
71
84
78
Demare
73
80
75
72
82
81
Van der Lijke
73
76
73
71
82
79
Grosu
73
73
74
70
83
80
Ewan
75
71
73
71
83
81
Bewley
77
70
77
75
82
82
Degenkolb
76
69
73
71
84
81
Coquard
73
66
71
74
84
83
Ahlstrand
74
67
74
73
83
82
Howard
76
68
75
70
82
79
Theuns
72
74
76
73
77
76
Pedersen
77
69
78
80
78
77
Groenewegen
73
67
74
71
82
81
---XXX---
Ponzi
75
83
76
71
75
79
Hagen
76
84
80
73
72
78
Lutsenko
69
83
76
73
72
81
Van Garderen
73
82
78
75
70
79
Bakelants
70
82
78
75
71
75
Gerts
77
78
76
80
72
70
Bellis
75
78
80
71
74
75
Kinoshita
73
83
80
77
68
77
Koretzky
73
81
77
70
71
79
Vakoc
71
80
75
71
71
74
Mohoric
72
83
78
72
67
77
It's raining in Milan as we get underway for the 2020 edition of the Milan-San Remo.
We have to wait a bit for the first attack, as the pack starts of carefully on the slippery roads. When it does arrive, three riders manage to get away from the peloton on the first go itself. They are:
Bolo-Erdene Lietaer Fumeaux
A few more attacks follow, but none are successful.
It is only when Lane attacks on his own that the pack let him get away.
Thus forms today's break of the day with today's four riders.
Skip ahead a little (and yet there's 200 kilometers to go!) and we see the pack showing the first form of coordination. Podium Ambition, who are here on a wildcard ticket, Rakuten, Grieg, Volvo, Festina, Moser and eBuddy have all sent riders to the front to help get some order. No sign of Evonik or Puma yet though. The gap is currently 5'28". It was more than 6 minutes a couple dozen kilometers earlier.
150 km to go for the break as they climb Turchino. Their lead has further reduced to 3'53".
Skipping ahead another uneventful 50 kilometers, we can see most of the same teams still at the front with the addition of Aker, who've sent a rider to help as well. The gap has further reduced to 2'49".
The first incident of note arises as the break are climbing up Capo Mele. Fumeaux places an attack, seemingly tired of riding in formation with his breakaway buddies for more than 200 kilometers already. With just under 50 km to go, can he sustain this?
Well, not for long! He is caught 4 kilometers later.
Bolor-Erdene takes inspiration and places his own attack on Capo Cervo.
In the peloton, the pace has picked up, dropping 14 riders. Among these are six Gazelle riders, including Formolo and Furdi. Gerts and Chernetskiy are also in this group.
The rest of the breakaway catch and pass Bolor-Erdene, who sits up and is happy to be dropped! We're on Capo Berta now, with the peloton just 39 seconds behind.
Bolor-Erdene does rejoin the break on the descent with the pack taking it slower again.
Lane accelerates on the flat roads following Berta.
Lietaer joins Lane as the pack close in.
The pack catches the trailing duo soo after.
The pack catches the break with 28 km to go. The Formolo/ Gerts group have also made it back to the pack.
We're 1 km away from the summit of the Cipressa and 182 riders remain in the peloton. Festina, Moser, ISA and Podium Ambition are working at the front.
Senechal and Kamyshev are among the riders dropped with 14 km left.
10 km to go. Evonik are finally showing their colours at the front of the peloton. Rakuten, Aker, Lierse and Vesuvio have also turned up in the leading positions.
The start of Poggio causes a gap with 9 km left. Dzamastagic has been pulling with all his might over the last couple of kilometers and it seems to have put his own team leader in trouble! Van Stayen and Pedersen are two riders caught on the wrong side of the split! Disaster here for Evonik. They'll be hoping their leader can recover. He does have Eislers with him to try and help him get back. Grieg won't be too happy with Pedersen's current situation either. Defending champion Hagen and Van Garderen are others in this group as well!
Dzamastagic gets the signal from his DS to slow down and almost instantaneously there's an attack on the upper slopes of Poggio from Andersen and Arashiro. Kneisky is trying to chase down. Does this mean that Grieg have moved to Plan B already? Not sure Pedersen will not be too happy with this!
Arashiro and Kneisky are caught by the peloton a kilometer later.
The second group are falling further behind with Eislers still desperately trying to close the gap.
Andersen has soldiered on by himself and his lead stands at 30 seconds with 4 km to go. The chasing group has 30 riders left with the Van Staeyen group now more than a further minute behind.
Bewley has had enough and decides to go on his own! He attacks out of the pack with 2 km left.
Eislers is still trying to bring Van Stayen back to the lead group but their deficit is more than a minute. Evonik do have a couple of riders in the lead group, in the form of Dzamastagic and Stoltz.
Vanbilsen is now dropped from the peloton.
Just 1 km to go for Andersen. Bewley has just about caught up but fatigue is now setting in for the Moser leader.
Koretzky is leading out Coquard in the chase with Ewan and Degenkolb on the latter's wheel.
Andersen and Bewley are both tired as they enter the final 500 meters. The pack has reduced the gap to just 17 seconds!
Bewley is passed by Coquard with 200 meters left. Andersen is still holding on. Behind them, the situation in the sprint is as shown below:
Ewan
Degenkolb
Ahlstrand
Grosu
Demare
Howard
Van der Lijke
Samolenkov
Bellis
100 meters. Ewan and Degenkolb are past Bewley and are catching Coquard.
There is a split in the group and Groenewegen is on the wrong side of it.
It's a Fatal 4 Way to the line as a fast Degenkolb and Ewan bear down on a slowing Coquard and a tiring Andersen with 50 meters left to ride.
Degenkolb and Ewan are past Andersen now as the race has 20 meters too many for the Grieg rider to hold on to an amazing win! Coquard is down to 4th.
Degenkolb pulls further away in the finishing meters and wins Milan-San Remo for the first time in his illustrious career. Ewan claims 2nd as a wildcard entrant.
Andersen hangs for an incredible 3rd place! Coquard has to settle for 4th.
It's a four-way to the line for 5th as well! Ahlstrand, Howard, Grosu and Demare are fighting it out for a Top 5 placing.
Demare edges ahead on the line to claim 5th. Grosu is given 6th ahead of Ahlstrand and Howard.
Van der Lijke claims 9th, with Samolenkov completing the Top 10.
Dzamastagic finishes 11th but it is nowhere near high enough to what his team were hoping. On it's own, it is a good result for him, but he might be feeling a little sick to his stomach at the moment. Vandersbiest finishes 12th.
Wisnioski finishes 13th, adding to his team's good day. Ponzi is the best placed pure puncher in 14th. Bellis rounds out the Top 15. Bewley falls all the way down to 16th after his failed attack. Hsu finishes 17th.
Kinoshita wins the sprint for 18th, ahead of teammate Arashiro. Stoltz finishes 20th. Lutsenko comes home next.
Today's winner - John Degenkolb.
A huge win for Degenkolb to add to his palmares. A huge win for his team too! He continues his great start to the season. Ewan shows his mettle against the strongest opposition possible and stands on the second step of the podium. Andersen produces a 3rd place out of thin air, to give a major boost to his team.
Among the riders whose positions were not reported earlier, Groenewegen finished 24th. Van Staeyen is 31st with teammate Eislers in 34th. Pedersen finishes 41st, but his team will not fret over this as much as they otherwise might have. Defending champion Hagen can only get 48th place with Van Garderen in 50th.
