Gerald Ciolek made history today by winning one of cycling's monuments, Milano-San Remo.

Today’s race was especially hard as weather conditions forced organisers to stop the race after nearly two hours of racing because of snow and very low temperatures. The race was moved to a safer location with the run in to the finish via the Cipressa and Poggio staying the same.

Ciolek made it to the Cipressa, the second last climb of the day, in a select peloton. World champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) was the first to attack causing several riders to go off the front. As they crested the Poggio, the day's final climb, Ciolek followed the two pre-race favourites, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard).

This formed what would be the winning move of the day. Ciolek outsprinted Sagan (2nd) and Cancellara (3rd) for what is the African team’s first victory at a WorldTour level.

Afterwards Ciolek could hardly believe what he and his teammates had achieved despite coming to the first spring classic of the season on a wildcard invitation, “It’s unbelievable,” said Ciolek after crossing the finish line. “This is an unbelievable success for us and just an incredible day. We just came here as a wildcard and now we’re standing here with the trophy. This is great. I knew I had to follow all the best riders on the Poggio and it worked out perfectly.”