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Milan-Sanremo: Wout van Aert takes the somewhat belated first Monument of the seasonMSR 2020 finish (Simon MacMichael)

Milan-Sanremo: Wout van Aert takes the somewhat belated first Monument of the season

A new date, a new route – but still the same finish
by Alex Bowden
Sat, Aug 08, 2020 13:30
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Today, somewhat later than planned, the peloton set off for what is still somehow the first Monument of the season. However, while the 2020 Milan-San Remo may have been forced to adopt a new date and a new route, it retained its familiar climax.

Huge changes were made to the Milan-Sanremo route just over a week ago, after mayors of a number of coastal towns objected to the passage of the race as they seek to rebuild their tourism industries following the COVID-19 crisis.

The route then had to be modified further just a couple of days out from the start after heavy thunderstorms struck Alessandria.

While the race crossed the Po Valley and the Apennines further west than usual, it returned to its classic route in Imperia and its now traditional crescendo on the Cipressa and the Poggio.

Last year's winner, Julian Alaphilippe, was among the favourites, and he lined up alongside former winners Vincenzo Nibali (2018), Michał Kwiatkowski (2017), Arnaud Demare (2016) and Alexander Kristoff (2014).

Other notable names included Wout van Aert, the winner of last week’s Strade Bianche, Peter Sagan and Philippe Gilbert, plus Olympic champion, Greg Van Avermaet.

The race rolled out of Milan this morning and a seven-man break soon formed.

The decisive moments came in the closing kilometres, however.

Alaphilippe pushed the pace near the top of the Poggio and went over the top alone.

He was joined on the descent by Wout van Aert and the two of them worked together to hold off the chasing group.

The Belgian was the quicker of the two and so added a first Monument to last weekend’s Strade Bianche victory.

Speaking at the finish, van Aert said: “It's unbelievable to win Milano-Sanremo after Strade Bianche.

"On the Poggio, I was at the limit. Alaphilippe attacked earlier than I expected and I couldn't hold his wheel so I had to go and chase him down.

"He played it very well. Luckily I just had enough power left to beat him on the line. It's a beautiful restart of the season for me."

Milan-Sanremo
Milan-San Remo
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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14 comments

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IanEdward | 4 years ago
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Idea for the next road.cc article: "First two classics of season won on rim brakes - is the disc brake dead?" 😉

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Welsh boy | 4 years ago
1 like

Alaphilippe descended off the Poggio like my granny, I expect that he was tired (or was bored to death, it was the most boring race in the calendar after all) but you knew from the start of the descent which of the two was riding the best and most likely to win. A shame, I would have liked to see him win it again though.

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TheBillder | 4 years ago
1 like

15 motorbikes, 35 cars and 5 vans in the 2 min video. And who knows how many ahead (do they have a caravan?). Time to give riders a tool kit and a couple of tubes and tell them they're on their own?

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Nick T replied to TheBillder | 4 years ago
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Love to know how much fuel is burnt during one grand tour compared to a season of MotoGP

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IanEdward replied to TheBillder | 4 years ago
1 like

It's a really interesting idea, how could you make a Grand Tour more green?

Thousands of cameras lining the course or just one footage supplier with a single fleet of camera bikes? Electric camera bikes? Hundreds of drones?

I like the idea of making the riders more self sufficient on the course, could only benegit consumers as there would be an impetus towards lightweight kit which is also more robust/more easily repaired.

Would sound the death knell for tubulat tyres I guess...

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Nick T replied to IanEdward | 4 years ago
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A few hundred drones

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mdavidford replied to Nick T | 4 years ago
1 like

Good idea. But how would you film your peloton of drones?

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Welsh boy replied to TheBillder | 4 years ago
1 like

My sentiments about the whole pro scene. When I watch team cars squeezing past riders on narrow roads to support their rider I often wonder who they think the most important person in the race is, the support vehicles or the riders. I would stop all feeding from vehicles to start with, pass bottles up from the side of the road and then make cars keep their place in the convoy, make them drop back to service a rider behind the convoy if necessary and NO magic spanner's or sticky bottles which are just euphemisms for cheating, bike riders should power the bikes, not be towed. Even to me, a keen fan and ex racer, the pro scene is becoming nothing more than two wheeled pro wrestling. 

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kil0ran | 4 years ago
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So pleased to see his recovery from the TdF injuries. In ten years time we'll be talking of him in the same terms as Boonen I reckon. Such an exciting rider

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to kil0ran | 4 years ago
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As with on cyclocross, I think when MvdP fully commits he could be at his level in a season or two. It seems CC and MTB is the path for the really exciting riders recently.

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IanEdward replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 4 years ago
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I thought this too, does MvP just need to learn more race-craft? WvA has 2 seasons (?) extra experience in that regard.

MVP was leading the chase but then disappeared, out of top 10 at the finish. Did others just lean on him too much to chase WvA down?

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jollygoodvelo replied to IanEdward | 4 years ago
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I reckon MvdP simply decided that sprinting for third was a waste of energy and saved himself for the next race.

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Velophaart_95 replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 4 years ago
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Will be a while before MvdP fully commits to the road (and that is if he does); Paris 2024 Olympic MTB race is his long term aim. He'll likely continue to mix 3 disciplines...and be world class at them all.

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Judge dreadful | 4 years ago
1 like

Brilliant effort. That bike is superb as well.

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