Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) won a abridged edition of Milan-San Remo, as snow forced organizers leave out the first two climbs.

The German sprinter took the close win ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) in a sprint decision.

Like so often during this season, the weather played a key role in the race as snow compelled the organizers to cancel the Turchino and La Manie climbs, with the nearly ice-covered riders being transported over these two climbs inside their team buses. With the restart in Cogoleto, after a nearly two-hour break, the second part of the race covered only 130 km.

The race was resumed in torrential conditions at Cogoleto, at least by most riders. Not all the riders took to the second part of the race, with Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Tom Boonen being the biggest name to stay seated in the bus, with harsh words for race organizers, whom he blamed for having taken insufficient steps to circumvent the first two climbs of the day in more satisfactory ways.

With 40km to go, the climbing finally started, and the race started in earnest.

A minimized pack, by now shedding its extra layers of clothing, was unwavering in its determination to catch the break group before the Cipressa.  Most of the big names still in the race were in this group, and with 30 km to go the breakaway riders were reeled back in. A crash just before the climb took down Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and two Sky riders.

The first attack on the Cipressa, led by Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Sylvain Chavanel, was not successful, while surprisingly, Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen fell off the back of the group. He was not the only one, as Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) and 2005 winner Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Merida) all lost the struggle to hang on.

Close decision

The group topped out on the Cipressa with only about 40 riders. World Champion Philippe Gilbert of BMC led the way down, perhaps hoping to build up enough of a lead to stay away for the remaining 20 km. It was not to be, as Chavanel lead a group of six, including top favourite Peter Sagan (Cannondale) up to Gilbert.

The next lead group to form was Chavanel, Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Ian Stannard (Sky). The field didn't want to let them go, and kept them within 30 seconds, as the rain started up again. Chavanel pulled the trio up the Poggio. Stannard finally moved in to help with the lead work, and Vorganov lost ground.

His teammate, Maxim Iglinsky, jumped on the climb, and while he caught and passed Vorganov, Chavanel did his utmost to drop Stannard, but was unable to do so. With 7 km to go, Stannard made a move which Chavanel was able to follow only with difficulty.

The field caught Iglinsky before the top, and Luca Paolini (Katusha) took his chance. Yet another group built around him, with Cancellara, Sagan, Ciolek and Paolini, with the rest of the field splintered on the treacherous drop.

They caught the two leaders inside the last 4 km. Stannard went away, but Sagan led the chase, and then took off on his own. Cancellara gave chase, with all coming together, until Stannard jumped again with about 1.8 km to go.

But they went into the final km as a group. Stannard stayed in the lead most of the way, as the others kept a close and suspicious eye on one another. Sagan opened the sprint, but Ciolek pulled around him and beat him out by a by a hair's breadth.

Some videos from today's chaotic race: