The Milan-Sanremo as a symbol
If you talk with those working in the sector, they’ll tell you that Milan-Sanremo, from a technical point of view, is an easy race. There are no rough stones of the Roubaix, with its infernal sectors. There are no walls of people which are present at the Tour of Flanders. There are no cotes of the Liège–Bastogne– Liège. There isn’t even the 4000 meters of difference in height of the Tour of Lombardy, with its iconic passages of Ghisallo or Muro of Sormano. Yet the Milan-Sanremo is unique. It’s a monumental classic which, actually, opens the cycling season. People look forward to it. The spring is lit by the Super Classic even if sometimes, it’s still cold and you can still find snow on the Turchino. 300km without great emotions. First Po valley, and then the Aurelia from Genova to Sanremo. The Turchino is a small hill, a small climb - It’s nothing to those cyclists. In the last 30km, there are the Cipressa and Poggio. They are not the Stelvio and Gavia, but after 270km of cycling their not so much difficult slopes may become very hard to deal with. The Milan-Sanremo is so fascinating because it’s unpredictable. On paper everyone can win it. It’s not a race just for sprinters. It’s not just for finisher or tough sprinters. It shouldn’t be for climbers, but Claudio Chiappucci won this race in 1991, Vincenzo Nibali in 2018 and Marco Pantani got close to it. Every cyclist who starts from Milan has a chance. There is someone who can’t endure the 300km of the race. A distance from the early twentieth century. A race which wears out the cyclists and might be made, by the weather, very hard. If one takes a look to the roll of honour, one may figure out that all the greatest have won it. From the unmatchable Eddy Merckx (7 victories!) to Costante Giradengo (6 victories); from the 4 triumphs of Bartali and Zabel to the 3-peat of Coppi and De Vlaeminck. We cannot forget that cyclists like Francesco Moser, Giuseppe Saronni, Laurent Fignon, Raymond Poulidor, Felice Gimondi, Sean Kelly and Gianni Bugno, have won the Milan-Sanremo. Up to the most recent Paolo Bettini, Mario Cipollini, Fabian Cancellara, Oscar Freire (3 victories), Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish. Vincenzo Nibali, winner in 2018, despite having already won the big three Tour, Giro and Vuelta on the 19
