Milan San Remo: The Sexiest Italian race!

Milan San Remo, “the Classissima Primavera” is already tomorrow! The first great classic of the season, the one that makes us all dreaming, us, the cycling enthusiasts. It is undoubtedly the most famous one, behind of course, the giant Paris-Roubaix. Milan-San Remo, the only race of a day, which starts in Winter and arrives in Spring. As you know, it’s almost 300 kms that riders have to face before the sumptuous finish on Via Roma! Like the Tour de France, this classic was created by a newspaper … And what newspaper could have created this sumptuous event? The Gazzetta Dello sport of course!

Another anecdote, you certainly do not imagine Milan San Remo without the famous Poggio or even without the Cipressa ?! The starting line did not borrow either of them until 1960. La Cipressa was added in 1982 to finish spicing up the race!

After a historical reminder, we will go behind the scenes of the Classissima Primavera, Geoffroy Lequatre participated in 2010 for the first time in his career! The first few times of Geoffroy were successful for him.

Find here the story of Geoffroy:

MY FIRST, AND BEST MILAN-SAN REMO

For the 2010 season, and after two seasons spent in the Agritubel formation and my victory in the England tour, I joinED the RADIOSHACK team, created by Lance Armstrong after his comeback in 2009! The beginning of the season promised to be stress-free in this new team! On the program, preparation in the United States and in Spain. Regarding competitions, the tour of Sardinia to begin with, followed by the Classic at Olbia and Paris Nice for an ideal preparation for the first big Classic! Milan-San Remo!

I am in shape, I feel that my preparation for San Remo, this race so special for all “classic hunters”, has been really good. For me, the “Classissima di Primavera” is probably the most “sexy” of the calendar … it’s the one that intrigues me and fascinates me the most! I am therefore necessarily motivated as a cadet. In addition, it will be my first participation in Milan-San Remo. I, unfortunately, missed too many times the start of this first classic of the season!

As for the team, it was created around Lance Armstrong. It’s him who had to lead his teammates at the same time as the whole team in the broad sense … double-level challenge! But everything did not go as planned, and, the day before the race,

Alain Gallopin tells me “Lance will not be part of it finally, he is sick”. Milan San Remo will be done without our leader.

 

MILAN-SAN REMO 2010, FINALLY!

In 2010, it’s finally a good year for me!

5:30 wake up! Breakfast and already the pressure is rising!

The bus transfer in the city center of Milan is done under a light rain, the weather looks bad in the plain of Po. The departure is at 9:30, we are covered up to the ears!

The tradition is that you roll in the streets of Milan embellished with its frame rails in all directions! Already the first falls, even before the official start of the race. The start is finally given, and as usual, on San Remo, the “fighters” take off on this first part of the race! Aside from the fight of the fighters, nothing very interesting to tell you in this first part except that the weather deteriorated sharply. At this moment, nothing should be left to chance, rain jacket, covers shoes, gloves, all the panoply is output to protect themselves better and preserve themselves for the end of the race! Milan-San Remo is also that … know how to equip to stay warm and keep a maximum of strength before arrival!

 

The Turchino Pass

The pace is accelerating as the Turchino Pass approaches. The famous Turchino Pass at 591m altitude, which is to climbed to switch to the Mediterranean! Not very high but when the weather is awful and it snows, the difficulty increases … The teams get into training to switch to the first places up and then attack the descent in the best conditions. We are approaching the Tunnel which will release the 190 furious cyclists in a descent. I am between the15-20th position.

We are warned, for a second the transition between day and darkness must surprise us. Only the tunnel light is out of order It’s totally dark in the Turchino tunnel! And there … for two seconds, an overwhelming silence is felt, then, a noise of bike and runner bumping into each other! We have to do with a collective fall at the head of the pack. I’m looking for my bike in the dark. After 20 seconds I grab a bike with a counter on the gallows, touch the saddle and say “it’s mine.” At full speed, I jump on the bike to start again and start a descent as quickly as possible and get back to the groups. This fall broke up the peloton.

 

THE LIGURE SIDE

From now on the race is well launched it remains 150 kms! I’m in the 4th group, we hunt to get back to the groups that preceded us, all the riders are now teammates, the only goal for each of us is to find the head of the race! But there are so many groups that each of us seems to be the first … The kms parade at full speed, we attack the Manie ( a 6km climb that had been added spice up the race), we were splitted into small groups .

At the last refueling, we catch a fairly large group, “I ask one of my teammate Sébastien Rosseler” where are we? Is it the race leader? He said “yes it’s the first group, there are just the breakaways a few minutes ahead! “

 

At the beginning of the last two difficulties

Finally … it’s the real beginning of the race for me. It remains 60 km with the Cipressa and the Poggio as the two “last judges” and mythical bumps that have made San Remo famous!

My mood is not the same, I am now in shark mode! I will not let anything go until the finish. I start to refuel correctly. I feel better and better, the more kilometers passed and the more I believed in my chances. It’s a day not to be missed in a career, so you have to run right.

At the approach of Cipressa I am confident. Attacks follow each other, I’m good, a great plateau with fluidity. We switch the Cipressa, the platoon explodes and we are more than thirty in front. Like all the remaining riders, I look forward to the Poggio who will finalize the day and only the strongest will remain, before a certain sprint!

Finally the Poggio, we turn right! The pace is incredible, it goes full throttle! I’m good, and now I’m sure I can do something!

Attacks follow each other again; Rogers, Gilbert … Finally, the group explodes but was rebuilt in the descent. We are then a group of 25 -30 riders presenting themselves for a massive sprint.

 

A difficult arrival

While there is only one kilometer left, I lose my lucidity … Where I like to place and rub myself, I am helpless. The 300 kms now weigh on my body and I am no longer able to place myself to get this long-awaited result. Oscar Freire wins as I finish in 1st place of my Milan-San Remo.

Nevertheless, I’m happy with my form and this crazy race, but disappointed to have disconnected mentally 1km from the finish after 290 kms done… The top 10 was widely possible!

Milan-San Remo is a myth that you have to live at least once in your career as a professional cyclist. What a sensation of freedom and well-being after 7 hours of effort and stress, a feeling of fullness because of adrenaline!

My prognosis for tomorrow!

Impossible not talk about Milan-San Remo without giving you my predictions at 24 hours of arrival on Via Roma!

• Ultras favorites: Julian Alaphilippe, Peter Sagan, Matteo Trentin, Oliver Naesen … obviously, I am a little chauvinistic so I would prefer to see Julian the worm!
• Outsiders: Magnus Cort Nielsen, Sam Benett, Greg Van Avermaet and Elia Viviani
• They have a chance: Caleb Ewan, Alejandro Valverde, Niki Terpstra, Gianni Moscon, Fernando Gaviria

Good Milan San Remo to all! Hoping to have you live my race as if you were there!

G4