Course and weather: the big change
Thirty degrees is what awaits the peloton of 27 teams, two more than usual with, as a consequence, one less rider per formation. "The temperatures will be much higher than in March", underlines Valerio Piva, the sporting director of CCC (Van Avermaet, Trentin), who foresees: "The runners have only a few days of racing in their legs, so a race 300 kilometers will be very demanding. ”
Extended by 8 kilometers to graze the 300 kilometer threshold (plus a 10 km bike transfer in the streets of Milan!), The route follows a line further west than the classic route. It reaches the seafront just 36 kilometers from the finish for an identical final with the last two jumps, the Cipressa and the Poggio, two hills overlooking the coast.
The sprinters at the party?
Who wins in the exchange? More than the course, the weather factor is likely to weigh on and the sprinters, deprived of victory since Arnaud Démare's success in 2016, still have their say despite the loss of a teammate to help them. Like the Australian Caleb Ewan, openly ambitious ("I am confident"). But the runner-up in the 2018 edition fears the favorable wind that would thwart his plans, unlike his teammate Philippe Gilbert, winner in his career of four of the five “monuments”. The Belgian only lacks the “classicissima”!
Démare, in resplendent form given his sprint on Wednesday in Milan-Turin, radiates confidence (“I feel strong”), four years after his first success. Although offering less guarantees so far, the Irish Sam Bennett, the Italian Elia Viviani, the Colombian Fernando Gaviria, the Australian Michael Matthews, are also concerned. And, even more, the Belgian Wout Van Aert, so much the winner of the Strade Bianche, last Saturday, caused a strong impression for a week.
“If we arrive in a small or large group in Sanremo, I know I shouldn't be afraid of the sprint,” said Van Aert after his third place in Milan-Turin, his first massive sprint since his victory in the Tour last year in Albi. Especially since the Belgian can put up with a selective race before reaching the city of flowers.
The hope of the attackers
The Italian Vincenzo Nibali proved in 2018 that the feat, unexpected as it may be, remains within reach of the attackers (Schachmann, Bettiol, Formolo). To succeed, they need a little mattress lasting a few seconds at the top of the Poggio, 5,450 meters from the line. Unless you succeed in a masterful descent as the Slovenian Matej Mohoric can do (4th in 2019).
A quartet of aces can play the offensive and then wait: Michal Kwiatkowski, the Polish true master at running, Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutchman who has against him to discover the race, Peter Sagan, the Slovak passed close to victory in 2013 and 2017 (2nd), and Julian Alaphilippe, the outgoing winner.
"It is logical that I am not yet at my peak of form but the legs still respond well, the sensations are good", says the Frenchman who tempers compared to 2019: "I am neither in the same state of mind nor in the same state of form. " Last year, he had settled a group of a dozen runners on via Roma, that street in Sanremo which is common all year round except on race day. "My most beautiful victory".
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