The 110th Spring Monument in Italy

The first amateur race from Milan to Sanremo was held back in 1906, in two stages. Later, the journalist Tullo Morgagni suggested to Eugenio Costamagna, director of La Gazzetta dello Sport, the idea of holding the same race in a single day, and on April 14, 1907, the first official edition of Milano–Sanremo was held. It is worth noting that the same Tullo Morgagni is also credited with the idea for two other legendary Italian races: the one-day Giro di Lombardia in 1905 and the multi-day Giro d’Italia in 1909. All three of Tullo’s ventures became legendary: today both one-day races are among the five Monuments, and the multi-day race is one of the three Grand Tours!

This year’s Italian spring Monument (La Classicissima di Primavera) was held over a 291-kilometer route, the longest race in modern world cycling. Good weather helped the race reach the decisive section at a fast but calm rhythm, and the peloton went onto the legendary Cipressa climb together.

The last of the day’s breakaway riders to give in was Fausto Masnada. It happened on the lower slopes of the Cipressa, where the favorites’ sky-high motivation became clear; from there on, all of them could be seen at the front of the peloton. The pure sprinters Groenewegen and Bouhanni dropped back — today the pace of the race proved too much for them. A little later Elia Viviani suffered the same fate.

On the descent Niccolò Bonifazio tried his luck, almost collided with a motorbike and even built up a 15-second lead, but the peloton still reached the foot of the Poggio together.

 

 

On the upper part of the Poggio, Julian Alaphilippe crowned the outstanding work of the Quick-Step riders and launched the decisive attack. His move triggered activity from the other favorites. A group of seven went clear on the descent, grew slightly before the finishing flat, and a sprint from a small group of favorites in the final kilometer became inevitable. And the sprint happened!!!

 

 

Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck–Quick-Step was the strongest today and won convincingly!

Julian has conquered Italy this spring — the Marseillaise rang out in the winner’s honor at both Strade Bianche and Milano–Sanremo!

 

 

This year’s Classicissima fitted into a short time, lasting just 6 hours and 40 minutes. The presence of Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali in the top ten clearly raises positive expectations. At the start of the spring, three-time world champion Peter Sagan seems nervous; I think one win will get him out of this state. Greg Van Avermaet looks worse — or rather, for a rider of his level, Greg isn’t visible at all. But this was only the first Monument, and next month, at the traditional northern Classics, we should expect other people at the finish line with their arms raised high!!!

 

 

 

Featured image: ROBERTO and LUCA BETTINI/www.bettiniphoto.net

Inside post thumbnail image: ROBERTO and LUCA BETTINI/www.bettiniphoto.net

 

Special thanks to the Italian photographers ROBERTO and LUCA BETTINI for permission to use their watermarked works in our publications.

 

 

 

 

 

Translated from Georgian with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic), reviewed by the Velorbola editors.