Small Change To Milan-Sanremo Course

16 March 2018 09:44

The 109th edition of Milano-Sanremo, the first Monument Classic of the season, is set to take place tomorrow, starting in piazza Castello at 9.45am and finishing in Via Roma after 291km, with 175 riders representing 25 teams (18 UCI WorldTeams and seven Wild Cards), each consisting of seven riders.

Unpredictable as ever – like the weather forecast – La Primavera will see amongst its favourites last year’s podium with the 2017 winner, Michal Kwiatkowski, second classified – and triple UCI Road World Champion – Peter Sagan and third placed, Julian Alaphilippe.

Challenging these riders, among the sprinters, Elia Viviani, Marcel Kittel, Arnaud Demare, Alexander Kristoff, André Greipel, Caleb Ewan, Mark Cavendish and Michael Matthews and, among the one day specialists, Greg Van Avermaet, Vincenzo Nibali, Philippe Gilbert, Matteo Trentin, Filippo Pozzato and Edvald Boasson Hagen.

There's been a small change to the course, now 294km long: after Basaluzzo the race moves to the right side of the river Orba crossing Predosa and Roccagrimalda Stazione, returning to the original course in Ovada. This modification doesn't change the technical nature of the race but makes it 3km longer.

TV COVERAGE
The 109th Milano-Sanremo NamedSport will be broadcast in 193 countries right across the five continents. The 2018 edition of the race will be shown live by 14 TV networks.

RAI, the WorldTour event’s host broadcaster, will produce four hours coverage of the race in between live and specials pre and post-race, broadcasting it in Italy on Rai 2.

In Europe, La Chaine L’Équipe will broadcast La Primavera in France, while in Belgium the race will be available on Medialaan-VTM in Flemish and on RTBF in French.

Eurosport will broadcast in 53 European countries and in 16 territories in the Asia Pacific area, with commentary in 20 different languages.

The first Monument of the season will be broadcast live in South Africa on Supersport, in the remaining of Sub-Saharan Africa on Kwese Sports and in all the North Africa and Middle East on OSN.

In the Americas, the Milano-Sanremo will be broadcast on Fubo.TV in USA and Canada, on TDN in Mexico and Central America, while ESPN network will cover Brazil, the remaining of South America and the Caribbeans.

Race will be live in Japan on DAZN, while in New Zealand will be broadcast on Sky Sports.

SNTV, Reuters and Perform agencies will distribute images from the race all over the world.

Milano-Sanremo NamedSport International TV Schedule available here.

COURSE
The Milano-Sanremo, brought to you by NamedSport, follows the classic route that has connected Milan to the Riviera di Ponente for the past 109 years, namely via Pavia, Ovada and Passo del Turchino, before descending towards Genoa Voltri. From here, the route heads west, passing through Varazze, Savona, Albenga, Imperia and San Lorenzo al Mare where after the classic sequence of the “Capi” – Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta – the peloton negotiates two climbs that have become part of the route in recent decades: the Cipressa (1982) and Poggio di Sanremo (1961). The Cipressa is just over 5.6km long with a gradient of 4.1%. The descent leading back down to the SS 1 Aurelia road is highly technical.

Final kilometres
The ascent of Poggio di Sanremo starts 9km before the finish line. The climb is 3.7km long with an average gradient of less than 4% and a maximum of 8% in the segment shortly before the crest of the climb. The road is slightly narrower, with four hairpin turns in the first 2km. The descent is extremely technical, on asphalt roads, narrow at points and with a succession of hairpins, twist and turns as far as the junctions with the SS 1 Aurelia. The final part of the descent enters urban Sanremo and the last 2km are on long, straight urban roads. 850m from the finish line there is a left-hand bend on a roundabout. The last bend, leading into the home straight, is 750m from the finish line.

LIVE TWEETS
You can follow Milano-Sanremo NamedSport daily with a Twitter feed bringing all the news directly from the race, by following the official Twitter account @Milano_Sanremo. Use the hashtag #MSR to send your comments.

Photo Credit: LaPresse

KEV MONKS FOR DIGITAL SPORTS GROUP

Source: DSG