Milan - San Remo 2021: Favourites

On all four occasion the Poggio was the site of decisive attacks. Van Aert and Alaphilippe did it last year before the Belgian outsprinted the title defender on the Via Roma; two years ago it was Alaphilippe himself who finished it off after a decisive move on the final climb with Sagan, Van Aert, Valverde, Trentin, Naesen and Kwiatkowski on his wheel; in 2018 Nibali opened up a gap just before the top of the Poggio and zoomed down the descent in triumphant style; while Kwiatkowski outsprinted Sagan and Alaphilippe in 2017 after holding off the chasing peloton in the descent of the Poggio.

Skillfull descenders with fast legs, those are the riders to watch at La Primavera. Or the bold and the brave who manage to crest the Poggio solo.

With the likes of Van der Poel, Alaphilippe and Van Aert lined up we are bound to see attacks on the Poggio. This new generation is ripping up the racing copy book by disregarding their power meters in races, which leads to a compelling race. Let’s hope its happens again in La Primavera.

Eight still active riders tasted success in the streets of San Remo: Mark Cavendish (2009), Alexander Kristoff (2014), John Degenkolb (2015), Arnaud Démare (2016), Michal Kwiatkowski (2017), Vincenzo Nibali (2018), Julian Alaphilippe (2019), and Wout Van Aert (2020).

Favourites 2021 Milan – San Remo
***** Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe
**** Michael Matthews, Maximilian Schachmann, Matej Mohoric
*** Peter Sagan, Matteo Trentin, Arnaud Démare, Iván García
** Michal Kwiatkowski, Alexander Kristoff, Giacomo Nizzolo
* Tim Wellens, Sam Bennett, Nacer Bouhanni, Caleb Ewan, Davide Ballerini