The 2014 Milan–San Remo was the 105th running of the

Milan–San Remo Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...

single-day monument classic cycling race. It was held on Sunday 23 March over a distance of and was the fourth race of the

2014 UCI World Tour The 2014 UCI World Tour was the sixth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the opening stage of the 2014 Tour Down Under, Tour Down Under on 21 January, and concluded wi ...

season. It was won in the sprint by

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . A sprinter and classics rider, Kristoff is the most successful Norwegian cyclist by number of wins, having taken alm ...

, ahead of

Fabian Cancellara Fabian Cancellara (born 18 March 1981), nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss people, Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He is known for being a qual ...

and

Ben Swift Benjamin John Swift (born 5 November 1987) is a British professional Track cycling, track and road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Swift won the UCI Track Cycling World Championships – Men's scratch, scratch race a ...

Route and pre-race favourites

Race organisers initially introduced major changes to the route for the 2014 edition of the race, with the new

Pompeiana Pompeiana () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, situated about southwest of Genoa and about southwest of Imperia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 859 and an area of .All demo ...

climb being introduced between the existing

Cipressa Cipressa () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southwest of Genoa and about southwest of Imperia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,183 and an area of .All demogr ...

and Poggio climbs in the climax of the race, although the earlier climb of Le Mànie was taken out. This was seen to tip the balance of the race in favour of puncheurs and climbers rather than sprinters, with many sprinters including 2009 winner

Mark Cavendish Sir Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx people, Manx retired professional cyclist. As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialised in the Madison (cycling), madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he ...

() stating they would not compete. However, in February 2014 race organisers announced the new climb would not be used after all, due to poor weather conditions. With no replacement climb, the route now resembled that of the 2007 edition, and seemed to now favour sprinters due to a flatter route than in previous years. Subsequently, the likes of Cavendish and

André Greipel André Greipel (born 16 July 1982) is a German cyclist, who rode professionally in road bicycle racing between 2005 and 2021. Since his retirement from road racing, Greipel has worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental teams and , and in ...

() decided they would compete in the first monument of the season.

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...

of was seen as one of the top favourites going into the race, due to his all round sprinting and hill climbing abilities. Cavendish, Greipel and 's

John Degenkolb John Degenkolb (born 7 January 1989) is a German professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . His biggest wins to date are the 2015 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Paris–Roubaix, two of cycling's five Cycling monument, monuments ...

were considered favourites should the race end in a bunch sprint, whilst the likes of

(),

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...

of the , 's

Simon Gerrans Simon Gerrans (born 16 May 1980) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018, for the , , , , and squads. Post-retirement he initially worked as an athlete intern at Goldman Sachs in L ...

and

Tom-Jelte Slagter Tom-Jelte Slagter (born 1 July 1989) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2020, for the , , and teams. Career Born in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, Slagter currently resides in Leeuwa ...

of would be looking to set up victory by dropping the sprinters on the final climbs. Gerrans did not start the race, after being ruled out the day before due to illness.

Teams

As Milan–San Remo was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Seven other squads were given wildcard places to the race, completing the 25-team peloton The 25 teams that competed in the race were:

Race overview

The 2014 Milan San Remo was won by a powerful sprint from

of who started his sprint with about 150m to go and surged clear of a fading Mark Cavendish.

of finished 2nd for a 3rd time in this race and on the podium for a 5th time in seven years.

of took a surprise 3rd place, ahead of

Juan José Lobato Juan José Lobato del Valle (born 30 December 1988) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2023. During his professional career, Lobato took fifteen victories – including two victories ...

() and

(). Two of the pre-race favourites missed out towards the finish, with

puncturing as they hit the Poggio and

suffering from cramps after chasing to get back in the winning move on the descent of the Poggio. The race was run in harsh conditions with hail and heavy, freezing rain hammering the riders for hours. An early break of seven built up a considerable lead but they were reeled in as they hit the Cipressa and

Vincenzo Nibali Vincenzo Nibali (; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2005 to 2022. He is one of seven cyclists who have won all three of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours i ...

() went on a surprise attack. He built up a lead of around 35 seconds from the peloton but was reeled in as the race exploded in to life on the Poggio, led by Katusha and Cannondale. In the end it was a reduced group of some 27 riders that came to the finish and Kristoff was given a brilliant lead-out by his team-mate

Luca Paolini Luca Paolini (born 17 January 1977) is an Italian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2015. He started his sports career in the early 2000s by joining (2000–2002), UCI ProTeam directed by Patrick Lefevere. Wit ...

and proved the strongest at the end of a really hard day in the saddle. Kristoff may have been seen as an outsider and was odds of 80/1 in February before the route change reverted to favouring the sprinters. He was fancied by some though following his strong showing in the

Tour of Oman The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010, as part of the UCI Asia Tour through 2019 and on the UCI ProSeries since 2022. It was scheduled to become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, b ...

and because of his liking for long, hard days in the saddle. He was 33/1 to win with the bookmakers on the day.

Results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2014 Milan - San Remo Milan–San Remo Milan-San Remo Milan-San Remo Milan-San Remo 2014 in road cycling