With it now being ten editions since an Italian last won Milan-San Remo, La Gazzetta dello Sport has sparked a debate on whether another climb should be added, either a return of La Manie, finally including the promised Pompeiana climb or a new climb altogether.

Some famous Italians are keen to see the sprinters have a chance in San Remo and would not like to see a new climb added. Maurizio Fondriest is a strong advocate for adding a new climb to get rid of sprinters.

“I don’t think we should play with Milan-San Remo by adding another climb. It’s the first big, big race of the year and it’s good that it’s difficult but also open to a lot of riders,” Francesco Moser suggested. “To make the race less predictable, they don’t need to change the route but they could reduce the size of the teams. With six riders the strongest teams wouldn’t be able to control the race and so it’s be more exciting. A smaller peloton could also reduce the number of crashes, there were a lot on Saturday.”

“Milan-San Remo has to remain the least difficult of the Monuments but we can’t ignore that cycling has evolved," the 1993 winner argued Maurizio Fondriest. “Lets add another climb before the Cipressa or between the Cipressa and the Poggio, to ‘get rid’ of the pure sprinters but not the ones who can climb a little.”

“When I won the finish was much nearer the Poggio and it would be an incentive for the attackers,” Fondriest said when asked if the finish should be moved closer to the Poggio. “Perhaps Kwiatkowski would have won this year.”

Despite winning with an attack on the Poggio in 2003, Paolo Bettini takes Moser’s side and says organsiers RCS should not make San Remo harder.

“There’s no comparison to the past because so much has changed: the equipment, the training and the levels of fitness. Adding a climb is not needed and would only follow the general trend to make races harder,” Bettini argued. “The great thing about Milan-San Remo is that you never know who will win. Everybody in the front group thinks they can win but you never know what’s going to happen until the last 50 metres. That’s what makes Milan-San Remo so fascinating.”