1981 Milan-Sanremo winner Fons De Wolf says that the return to the old parcours for the race is the best thing that could happen to the race.

“The return to Via Roma, the classics parcours, is good,” De Wolf told Cycling Weekly.

“Eddy Merckx won there seven times. I won there. It’s special. Milan-San Remo is known as the Via Roma, that uncertainty, whether it will be a sprint or not.”

Via Roma and Corsa Cavallotti were the two traditional finishes for the longest bike race going and in 2008, due to roadwork’s, the race took a detour and finished on Italo Calvino, where it remained until 2015. It was one extra km longer from the bottom of the Poggio to the finish, which meant the race often ended in bunch sprints or in smaller group sprints and deterred individual attackers.

“RCS never wanted to leave Via Roma. We were forced to move to the seaside,” RCS Sport Cycling Director, Mauro Vegni said.

De Wolf remembers the day he won Sanremo, and says the race is special because it is so unpredictable as there are so many potential scenarios that ca present themselves to the riders on the day.

“When I won, I had four seconds at the top of the Poggio and I won with 10 or 12 seconds,” De Wolf said.

“I wasn’t convinced I could do it. When I came off the Poggio, I looked back twice to see, but afterwards no. When I arrived to the San Remo fountain, then I knew I’d win.”

De Wolf’s victory was the last before the introduction of the Cipressa and he says the introcuction of that climb gave the race its perfect parcours.

“Milano-San Remo has to stay as it is, there are already hard races. Even in my time, Flèche Wallonne finished on the flat. The Amstel Gold Race, too. Now they are all uphill finishes,” De Wolf added.

“If you are good, in Lombardia you have a good chance to win, in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, if you are one of the best, you have a big chance, but in Milan-San Remo, you are not sure you can win. There are between 10 and 20 possible winners. That makes the race beautiful. You are never sure, even when you are the best. You are not sure you will win.”