Van der Poel, Pogacar and Mohoric headline Milan-San Remo
It's a long time before the peloton hits the legendary climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio, but always worth the wait! Who will triumph on the Via Roma?
The organizers have opted for the same route in 2024 as last year, with the start from Pavia, just south of the fashion capital and engineering hub of Milan.
Last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel attacked on the Poggio. This was after UAE Team Emirates shredded the field on the final climb, only Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert and Pogacar could follow.
Typically a breakway will go way up the road and climb the Passo del Turchino before proceeding along the coast towards the three 'Muri'. The Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta. It always induces nervousness in the chasing bunch behind.
The Cipressa traditionally serves as a warm up for the Poggio. However, UAE Team Emirates demonstrated in 2022 that the Cipressa can also be used to severely reduce the peloton. After soloing for an incredible 80 km at Strade Bianche a couple of weekends ago, Tadej Pogacar might be planning a scathing attack here, who knows.
Nevertheless, a decisive moment always occurs on the Poggio on the climb or down the descent into Via Roma, as witnessed in the past two years when UCI Gravel World Champion and magic seatpost dropper Mohoric gave cycling fans a first class display in warpspeed technical descending, and of course last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel who got a gap on the climb, never to be seen again on the descent.
Modern cycling history has shown, that the rider and his team who are prepared to go "all-in" and "risk it all" will come up trumps.
It's been a few years since we've seen a bunch sprint, in 2021 Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) held off rivals sprinters on the Via Roma to win Milan-San Remo after making a brave attack in the final two kilometres beating Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) who just failed to catch him on the line in second, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) third, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) fourth and Mathieu van der Poel (Alepcin-Fenix) fifth.
With fierce competition from the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and Mads Pedersen among others though, victory is far from assured for Pogacar who said to the media last week "As we’ve seen before, this race is one of the most difficult to win and can end in many outcomes, for sure we'll make a plan to put ourselves in the best position possible. It’s a race we’d dearly love to win.” Pogacar will be supported by a very strong UAE Team Emirates lineup that also includes recent podium finisher at Paris-Nice, Brandon McNulty and Classics specialists Tim Wellens and Marc Hirschi.
The legend that is Eddy Merckx has won Milan-San Remo an amazing seven times, and no other rider has won the race more than once.
2024 Milan-San Remo Profile
144.4 km: Passo del Turchino (8.4 km at 5.1%)
242.5 km: Capo Mele (2.5 km at 5.2%)
247.4 km: Capo Cervo (2.5 km at 4.1%)
255.2 km: Capo Berta (3.0 km at 4.3%)
272.4 km: Cipressa (5.6 km at 4.1%)
288.5 km: Poggio (3.6 km at 3.7%)
2024 Milan-San Remo Bookies Favorites
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious)
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
Outside and Sprinters Favorites
Julian Alaphilippe
Tom Pidcock
Caleb Ewan
Jasper Philipsen
Jonathan Milan
Biniam Girmay