Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) came of age as a classics rider when he conquered today's Milan-Sanremo in dominant style. The Norwegian was the freshest of the sprinters when 20 riders arrived at the finish after a wet and non-aggressive race and put daylight between himself and his nearest rivals, Fabian Cancellara (Trek) and Ben Swift (Sky) in the final dash to the line.

 

Last year Alexander Kristoff proved that he is the king of the sprints in the classics when he won the final battle of the first big group in Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. Unfortunately, riders were always up ahead and so his sprinting prowess only earned him minor positions but he finished in the top 10 in all three monuments.

 

Today he finally got the chance to sprint for a win in one of the most important races when all came back together for a sprint in today's 105th edition of Milan-Sanremo. After a surprisingly non-aggressive showing on the Poggio, a 20-rider group arrived at the finish to fight it out for the first monument win in a sprint.

 

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) had survived the climbing and seemed to be poised to take his second win in the Italian classic when he opened his sprint on the right-hand side of the road after Philippe Gilbert (BMC) had tried to do a long sprint down the middle. The Manxman went head-to-head with Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) in what briefly seemed to be the duel for the win.

 

However, it was not to be for the fast Brit. As soon as Kristoff - who had been well-positioned near the front all day and received excellent support from Luca Paolini in the finale - hit the front, the outcome was never in doubt. The Norwegian opened a big gap over his rivals and took one of the most convincing sprint wins in the Italian classics in recent history.

 

Behind the superior Norwegian, the battle for the remaining podium position was a close one. Modolo and Cavendish both faded in the headwind sprint and instead Fabian Cancellara proved that he is very fast at the end of hard races when he took 2nd, hammering his fist into his handlebar in frustration. Behind the Swiss, Ben Swift narrowly edged out Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Cavendish for the final spot on the podium.

 

The sprint came at the end of a very wet race where only Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has the guts to try a brave attack. The Italian made his move on the Cipressa and stayed away until the bottom of the Poggio where the major favourites were expected to try their hand.

 

However, neither Cancellara nor Sagan nor Philippe Gilbert tried a move and instead it was left to some of the minor riders to make the few attacks that never got too much of a gap. As a consequence, a 20-rider group crested the summit and with Cavendish still there, the Manxman was the big favourite.

 

However, he hadn't taken Kristoff into account who took what is by far the biggest win of his career. The result sets the Norwegian well up for the cobbled classics where he is also a great contender.

 

The WorldTour season continues tomorrow when the Volta a Catalunya kicks off while the classics resume on Wednesday with the Dwars door Vlaanderen.

 

The first monument of the season

After the much debate over the possible inclusion of the Pompeiana climb, the first monument of the season took place on a classic 294km course from Milan to Sanremo. As usual, the race was mostly flat, with the Passo del turchino being the first difficulty at the midpoint of the race. With 50km to go, the race entered its finale with the three small climbs Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta coming in quick succession but it was the climbs of Cipressa and Poggio inside the final 30km as well as the long distance that was expected to make the difference.

 

As forecasted, the 105th edition of Milan-Sanremo took off under rainy conditions but even though the riders stayed in their buses as long as possible to stay dry, it was still a far cry from the horrendous cold they experienced one year ago. Unfortunately, the slick conditions made even the neutral zone dangerous and a crash and subsequent knee pain has brought Jose Joaquin Rojas' (Movistar) race to a premature end.

 

Early attacks

As soon as the flag was dropped, the attacks were launched as several riders were keen to be part of the early breakaway. The early move in Milan-Sanremo is usually a prestigious one as it gains plenty of time in the spotlight and is one of the longest of the entire year due to the enormous distance of the race.

 

For the first 15km, none of the attacks stuck. The right move was initiated when the strong duo of Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin) and Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) took off and they were chased by several riders who tried to bridge across.

 

The escape groups were spread across the road for some time as they were still trying to open up a gap, meaning that no one wanted to slow down to wait for the others. As the peloton finally decided to take a breather, the gap went up to more than a minute and a 7-rider group was formed.

 

The break is formed

Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp), Antonio Parrinello (Androni), Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthCare), and Nicola Boem (Bardiani) joined Barta and Tjallingii and they started to extend their advantage. As it is custom in Milan-Sanremo, they were allowed a rather big gap which reached 7.45 after 35km of racing.

 

Cannondale and Omega Pharma-Quick Step started to control the advantage and kept it stable at around 8 minutes for some time. After 53km of racing, they stepped a bit off the gas, allowing the gap to reach 9.15 and then it was again kept stable for several kilometres.

 

Cannondale up the pace

The riders did the first two hours with an average speed of 44km/h but as it again started to rain - and even hail - the peloton stepped a bit off the gas, with the gap coming up to 10.30 after 124km of racing. However, things started to get serious a little later when the riders hit the Passo del Turchino.

 

As expected, Cannondale hit the front as they tried to make things tough for the pure sprinters and at the top they had brought the gap down to 7 minutes. Riders had started to fall off the pace, with a 30-rider group being left behind.

 

Three hard-working domestiques

Cannondale kept the pace fast when they hit the coastal road and they got some assistance from Trek and Giant-Shimano who were equally keen to make the race hard. For a long time, the trio of Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale), Eugenio Alafaci (Trek), and Tom Stamsnijder (Giant-Shimano) swapped turns on the front while they kept the gap stable at around 6.30.

 

Rain was still falling hard on the peloton and the riders did their best to try to stay warm in the brutal conditions. Up ahead, Boem was suffering from cramps and with 100km to go, he fell off the pace.

 

More riders get dropped

 With 75km to go, Haas was the next to get dropped but in his case it was a puncture that spelled the end. Meanwhile, the riders reached the second feed zone where Boem was swallowed up, the Italian quickly coming to a halt as his race was now over.

 

The gap was now starting to come down and had reached 5.45 but the escapees did a good job to keep it around that mark all the way to the bottom of the Capo Mele 50km from the finish. Parrinello, however, found the going a bit too tough and was the next rider to fall off.

 

Orica-GreenEDGE hit the front

Bodnar finished his job and left it to Stamsnijder and Alafaci to continue the pace-setting. As the riders approached Capo Mele, however, the battle for position was a fierce as several teams wanted to move up and it was Orica-GreenEDGE who hit the front with Svein Tuft.

 

On the climb, Kristoff showed his intentions when he asked his teammates Pavel Brutt and Aliaksandr Kuschynski to set a brutal pace and riders now started to fall as the gap dropped below the 5-minute mark. On the next climb, Capo Cervo, it was Cannondale's Alan Marangoni who upped the pace even further while Brutt and Kuschynski again took over in the valley.

 

Barta falls off the pace

On the final capo, Capo Berta, Barta fell off the pace in the front group while Brutt continued to smash it up the slopes. Riders like Enrico Gasparotto and Thomas Löfkvist were now getting dropped as the gap was down to just 2.50

 

Trek led the peloton down the descent and their fast pace-setting with Gregory Rast and Yaroslav Popovych saw the peloton splinter into several groups. Only 50 riders remained in the first one when they hit the flat stretch that led to the Cipressa.

 

Katusha back on the front

Katusha again took over the pace-setting with Brutt and Kuschynski and as they entered the Cipressa, they had brought the gap down to 2.15. Right from the bottom, Bono fell off the pace, leaving just Tjallingii and De Maar in the fron group.

 

Koen De Kort led the peloton onto the climb for Giant-Shimano but from the bottom Alessandro De Marchi set a fierce pace for Cannondale. With Peter Sagan on his wheel, he whittled the front group down to just 30 riders but Cavendish was still sitting comfortably in the middle while Andre Greipel was struggling at the back but survived the climb.

 

Nibali tries from afar

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) made his move on the lower slopes and at the top, he was just 15 seconds behind the front duo. The peloton was at 45 seconds as De Marchi had now finished his work, with Trek again hitting the front.

 

Nibali made a daredevil descent and went straight past the front duo while Yoann Offredo led the peloton on the downhill section. As soon as they hit the flat roads, however, the attacks started to get launched as no team took immediate control, with Salvatore Puccio (Sky) and Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) both being part of the action.

 

Nibali gets a big gap

Tjallingii continued on his own in pursuit of Nibali while De Maar fell back to the peloton. In the main group, Yaroslav Popovych and De Marchi restored order with the dup setting a hard pace to get Nibali back as he was now 50 seconds ahead.

 

De Marchi was soon left with all the work before being replaced by Puccio. They caught Tjallingii while Nibali was now losing ground and with 11km to go, he was only 25 seconds ahead.

 

Nibali is brought back on the Poggio

Rast, Adam Hansen (Lotto), and Fabio Felline (Trek) all enjoyed short spells on the front but when they hit the Poggio, it was Jurgen Roelandts who set a steady pace for Lotto. Rast was the first to make a move for Trek and he went straight past Nibali who fell back to the peloton.

 

Rast was joined by Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani) and fought hard to stay on the wheel of the young Italian. Roelandts was allowed to set the pace for a surprisingly long time until Puccio finally upped the tempo for Sky.

 

Gilbert gives it a try

Philippe Gilbert (BMC) made a move with 7km to go and Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) was quick to respond. Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) brought it back and instead it was Luca Paolini who gave it a go.

 

While Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) got dropped, Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) attacked over the top of the climb but Bennati brought the duo back on the descent. At the top Greipel was a few seconds behind and the German had to fight hard to get back.

 

Colbrelli smells the victory

Van Avermaet made another move on the lower part of the descent while Nordhaug gave it ago when they hit the flat roads 3km from the finish. He was passed by Sonny Colbrelli (BardianI) who managed to open a little gap with Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin) unsuccessfully trying to bridge across.

 

Inside the final two kilometres, Stybar brought Colbrelli back while Greipel managed to rejoin the front group. Paolini now hit the front for Katusha and set a fierce pace under the flamme rouge with Kristoff on his wheel.

 

Inside the final kilometre, Gilbert took over and he gently led the peloton through the final corners. Alongside his teammate Van Avermaet, he opened a long sprint from the front but it was Kristoff who emerged as the strongest in the final dash to the line.