Milan-Sanremo Race Preview: The warm-up is over and the first big appointment is here on Saturday – Milano-Sanremo – The first Classic Monument of the 2025 season. ‘La Primavera’ will see Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel duel for the first time this year, but the Italian Classic has more than just those two musketeers. PEZ looks at the course and who can win ‘La Classicissima di Primavera’.
2024 Milan-Sanremo highlights
The Last Ten Winners in Sanremo:
2024: Jasper Philipsen
2023: Mathieu van der Poel
2022: Matej Mohorič
2021: Jasper Stuyven
2020: Wout van Aert
2019: Julian Alaphilippe
2018: Vincenzo Nibali
2017: Michal Kwiatkowski
2016: Arnaud Démare
2015: John Degenkolb.
Seven Milano-Sanremo wins for Eddy Merckx
Percorso
Do you remember when Milano-Sanremo actually started in Milan?. Well, not anymore. In 2023, the start was in Abbiategrasso and last year it was in Pavia. La Primavera organisers like it so much that the first Monument of the season will start from Pavia for the foreseeable future, 2027 at the least. Pavia is a city of around 80,000 inhabitants and is 35 kilometres south of Milan. For RCS Sport, it will have been a financial decision, as Pavia is paying €100,000 a year to host the start. According to La Provincia, this is enough to cover all costs involved in holding the ‘partenza’. Obviously the start in Italy’s most urban populated city was getting too difficult, so moving it made a lot of sense.
2025 Milan-Sanremo map
The 116th edition of Milan-Sanremo is much the same as last year. The distance this year is 289 kilometres. After the start, the race heads southwest on mainly flat roads to the first climb of the day: The Passo del Turchino. In the early days of Milan-Sanremo, the Turchino was the only climb on the route, about halfway through the race, but it was often decisive. These days, the Passo del Turchino is now just leg-warmer on the route of the race, but as the first obstacle it can cause some nervousness in the peloton. The race then descends to Genoa Voltri and then goes west along the coast. Via Varazze, Savona and Albenga and the Tre Capi: the Capo Mele, the Capo Cervo and the Capo Berta. From the top of that last climb, about 40 kilometres from the finish, the will now be at ‘full gas’ to the last two climbs of the day: The Cipressa, which has been part of the route since 1982, and the Poggio.
2025 Milan-Sanremo profile
The Cipressa is 5.6 kilometres with a gradient of 4.1%. There are opportunities for a long attack, as the summit is more than 20 kilometres from the finish. It is also often a place where the non-climbing sprinters say goodbye to the race. The technical descent of the Cipressa leads back to the SS 1 Aurelia national road. The climb of the Poggio di Sanremo starts 9 kilometres from the finish. The climb is 3.7 kilometres and has an average gradient of 3.7%. Just before the top, the gradient increases to 8%. The road is quite narrow, with four hairpin bends in the first 2 kilometres. The descent is tricky and has many bends that are quite narrow.
The Sanremo finale
After the descent, it is not that far to the finish line in Sanremo. The last 2 flat kilometres are on long and straight roads. At 850 metres from the finish, there is a sharp bend to the left, followed by a bend to the right at 750 metres from the finish on the Via Roma.
Milano-Sanremo 2025 – The Climbs:
149.7km to go: Passo del Turchino (26km at 1.5%) starting in Ovada
51.6km to go: Capo Mele (1.7km at 4.2%)
46.7km to go: Capo Cervo (1.9km at 2.6%)
38.9km to go: Capo Berta (1.8km at 7.1%)
21.7km to go: Cipressa (5.6km at 4.1%)
5.6km to go: Poggio di Sanremo (3.7km at 3.7%).
Virtual map and profile
The Favourites
The days of Milan-Sanremo finishing in a bunch sprint are just a memory: Cipollini, Freire (3 times), Petacchi, Cavendish, Kristoff, Degenkolb and Démare all took the win in a gallop. Démare was the last in 2016. Since then, Milan-Sanremo has been won from a small group or a rider on his own, and this year will probably be the same. The pure sprinters will be dropped before the finale as the teams with a top favourite will make their life hard on the Capi and Cipressa. Might someone go for a long solo? Anything seems possible these days.
A solo victory by Tadej Pogačar?
Tadej Pogačar will be the most marked rider on Saturday. Winning ‘La Primavera’ has been on the Slovenian’s ‘most wanted list’ for a long time. The World champion has added almost every race on the calendar in his palmarès, except Milan-Sanremo. This will be his fifth attempt, can he do it this year? In the past, Pogačar has been the man to split the race on the Cipressa and the Poggio, but being able to stay away to the finish is not an easy task. Pogačar is still looking for the winning formula, but Sanremo has so many possibilities in the finale. Pogacar and his UAE Emirates XRG team will want to make the race as hard as possible to, first, get rid of the fast-finishers and then wear down the others so he swoop to the elusive victory. His UAE Emirates XRG team will set up the race before the Cipressa, as they have in the previous years. Then it is up to Pogačar to make the winning move on the Poggio. There is always the possibility that he will attack on the Cipressa. Only an idiot or a ‘superhuman’ would try it, so far from the Via Roma, but Pogačar is no idiot. UAE also has a super strong team, including Brandon McNulty, Jhonatan Narváez, Tim Wellens and Nils Pollitt.
Can Mathieu van der Poel win ‘La Primavera? again?
Mathieu van der Poel has won Milan-Sanremo before and he looks ready to repeat that feat this year. In 2023, Van der Poel took a stunning victory in the Italian Monument with an attack on the Poggio. He broke away from Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert and Pogačar for a solo ride to the finish. Last year he hand’t raced before Sanremo and didn’t have the legs, this year he has already ridden two races: Le Samyn (which he won) and Tirreno-Adriatico, where he had good placings.
Jasper Philipsen just ahead of Michael Matthews last year
Alpecin-Deceuninck doesn’t only have Van der Poel, they also have last year’s winner, Jasper Philipsen. It was the Belgian sprinter who was the victor after Van der Poel’s hard work, beating Michael Matthews in a close sprint. Erik Zabel won two years in a row, twice, in 1997 and 1998 and then again in 2000 and 2001. Roger De Vlaeminck, Laurent Fignon, Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali and Costante Girardengo all did the ‘two in a row’ wins, of course Eddy Merckx did it three times, but can Philipsen repeat? Philipsen is on good form at the moment, as was seen in the Opening Weekend, with a win in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and 3rd in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Cipressa and the Poggio are where the sprinters lose their chance in Sanremo, but Philipsen has shown that he has no problems on those climbs and descents. He also has one of the best sprints after a long and hard race. If he is at the front at the finish, not many can beat him.
Michael Matthews has to be a favourite – He was close last year
Michael Matthews was so close to winning Milan-Sanremo last year. The Jayco AlUla rider has won a lot of good races in his career, when it comes to the Monuments and Classics, he can finish in the top-5, but miss out on the win. This was the case last year, in Milan-Sanremo. Matthews rode a very clever race and had a strong sprint at the finish, but it was another second place. If the race ends in a group sprint, the Australian has to be one of the men to watch.
Mads Pedersen looked very fit in Paris-Nice
Mads Pedersen will also want a late escape group. The Dane has been a regular top-10 finisher in Milan-Sanremo in recent years: 6th in 2022 and 2023 and 4th in 2024. He looked very good in the Tour de la Provence, winning overall, the point competition and a stage. Then in Paris–Nice he won the points and stage 6. He does seem to be in the form of his life. Of course Biniam Girmay will also want the same race scenario and could get the sprint edge over the others. The Eritrean hasn’t races for the last month, due to the birth of his second child. But he has been training at home at altitude and his team report that his numbers are good.
Biniam Girmay could be a contender, but his form is unknown
2020 Milano-Sanremo winner, Wout van Aert, is not in Italy at the weekend, but at a training camp in preparation for the de Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, so Visma | Lease a Bike will rely on Olav Kooij. The fast-finishing Dutchman was 14th in Sanremo last year and his problems will be the Cipressa and the Poggio, if he can get over them with the leaders, then he has a chance. The yellow team also has Axel Zingle, who finished well in stages of Paris-Nice.
Visma betting on Olav Kooij
As well as Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek also has Jonathan Milan. The strong Italian hasn’t shown much in his previous Milan-Sanremo participations, but he has the strength and the final sprint, if it comes to it. If the situation of a ‘bunch’ sprint does happen, then the Italian can win. In the same breath, this also applies to Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), although he has Van der Poel and Philipsen to consider.
Tom Pidcock will be in the battle
We can’t bypass Tom Pidcock. The British rider seems to be reborn in his new Q36.5 Pro Cycling team, he has already taken four victories this season and was the only rider who could hold on to Pogačar in Strade Bianche. Pidcock will be in the fight for victory in Milan-Sanremo. Last year he nearly pulled it off with a late attack, but was swamped by the chase group with about 200 metres to go.
A last big win for Julian Alaphilippe?
Of the former winners: Michal Kwiatkowski (2017), Julian Alaphilippe (2019), Jasper Stuyven (2021) and Matej Mohorič (2022), they know how to win the race, but their chances are fairly slim. Especially Stuyven, who crashed in the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, but he is on the start-list. Then there is Filippo Ganna. The Italian was second in 2023 and was strong on the Poggio last year. The INEOS Grenadiers rider was climbing with the best in Tirreno and would love to win his home classic. Is he the top outside bet?
Filippo Ganna looked very good in Tirreno and Algarve
Who else should we look for? Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Neilson Powless, Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Iván García Cortina (Movistar), Maxim Van Gils, Laurence Pithie & Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Rick Pluimers (Tudor), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) and Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) are all worthy outsiders..
Milano-Sanremo & Sanremo Women 2025 | Official Video Promo
The PEZ Top Favourites:
One of these three: Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Mads Pedersen.
Possible: Jasper Philipsen, Filippo Ganna and Tom Pidcock.
Maybe: Michael Matthews, Jonathan Milan, Jasper Stuyven and Olav Kooij.
* Start-list could change before Saturday.
Tadej Pogačar chases Milano-Sanremo 2025 by FloBikes
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