The 106th edition Milano - Sanremo, organised by RCS Sport/La Gazzetta dello Sport, leaves Milan’s Piazza Sempione tomorrow morning and reaches kilometre 0 in Via della Chiesa Rossa, the point where the racing begins, at approximately 10.10 CET. 

The official start list was released at Race Headquarters this afternoon and can be found below

The field includes the winners of six previous editions of Milano - Sanremo: Norway’s Alexander Kristoff (2014), Germany’s Gerald Ciolek (2013), Matthew Goss (2011), Mark Cavendish (2009) from the Isle of Man, Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara (2008), and the Italian Filippo Pozzato (2006).

Also among the starters are a number of stage winners from last week’s Tirreno Adriatico and Paris Nice: from Slovakia, Peter Sagan; from Poland, the reigning UCI Road World Champion Michał Kwiatkowski, from Australia, the former UCI Under-23 World Champion Michael Matthews and, from Belgian, Greg Van Avermaet. 

The long list of favourites continues with the German riders André Greipel and John Degenkolb; Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen; the Spaniards Alejandro Valverde and Juan José Lobato; the British riders Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift, and the reigning Tour de France champion, Vincenzo Nibali, from Sicily.

WEATHER FORECAST
Milan (km 0, 9.50 am CET): light rain, 9°C. Wind: moderate,  ENE 11 / max 13 km/h.
Passo del Turchino (km 143.5, 1.30pm): scattered cloud, 15°C. Wind: weak, NNE 8 km/h.
Cipressa (km 271.5, 4pm): light rain, 12°C. Wind: fresh breeze, NE 32 / max 37 km/h.
Sanremo (finish line, km 293, 5pm): scattered cloud, 14°C. Wind: moderate, ENE.

SCHEDULE
Meeting point: Piazza Sempione, Milan, 8.10am CET
Signing in: 8.10 - 9.45am 
Ceremonial roll out: 9.50am
km 0: Via della Chiesa Rossa, approx. 10.10am (8.5km transfer)

RACE ROUTE
The race route has been confirmed, with the Passo del Turchino just before the halfway point, the three Capi (Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta) in quick succession around the 250km mark, and then the famous climbs: the Cipressa (km 272: 5.65km long, ave. gradient 4.1%, max. 9% ­ first incorporated into the race route in 1982) and Poggio di Sanremo (km 287.9: 3.7km long, ave. gradient 3.7%, max. 8% the segment before getting to the top of the climb, which was first incorporated into the race route in 1961).

The descent from the Poggio di Sanremo is extremely technical, on asphalt roads, narrow at points and with a succession of hairpins, twists and turns as far as the junction with the SS 1 Aurelia. The final part of the descent enters urban Sanremo. The last 2km are on long, straight urban roads. 850m from the finish line there is a left­hand bend on a roundabout. The last bend, leading into the home straight, is 750m from the finish line, which returns to its historic position in Via Roma, finish line from 1949 to 2008, after 6 years in Lungomare Italo Calvino (2009-­2014).

AROUND THE RACE
Milano - Sanremo has been part of Italian popular culture since 1907. It is indelibly linked to some of the great moments in 20th century Italian history. By way of example, the 1946 Milano - Sanremo took place the day after King Victor Emmanuel III, too compromised by his earlier support of Mussolini to play any part in post-war Italian politics, announced his intention to abdicate. 24 hours later, Fausto Coppi, that giant of Italian sporting history, launched a 150km solo attack that led to victory in the 37th Milano - Sanremo by no less than 14 minutes.

Given the huge period of time before the arrival of the second-placed rider, the radio commentator Niccolò Carosio fell back on a time-honoured broadcaster’s ruse, introduced by this immortal piece of sports commentary: ‘First across the line, Fausto Coppi. And now, while we wait for the other riders to finish, here is some light music!’ In the collective memory, the birth of the modern Italian Republic is intimately associated with Fausto Coppi’s extraordinary performance that day.

Record wins: The record-holder for Milano - Sanremo wins is Eddy Merckx, who won a remarkable seven editions of the race (1966, 1967,1969, 1971,1972, 1975, 1976).

Victory for the Rainbow Jersey : the last reigning World Champion to win the Milano - Sanremo was Giuseppe Saronni in 1983.

SANREMO
History: Once the Roman settlement of Matutia, or Villa Matutiana, Sanremo expanded in the early middle ages when the town moved to higher ground, and built a castle and the walled village of La Pigna, to protect the town from Saracen raids.

Other sports: Sanremo hosts major annual tournaments in a wide range of sports, including golf, sailing, triathlon, clay pigeon shooting. In particular, Sanremo is historically associated with motorsport, poker, and, of course, cycling. Motorsport: Juan Manuel Fangio won his first European Grand Prix at Sanremo-Ospedaletti in 1949. The Sanremo Rally, first held in 1928, is part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the Italian national rally championship. A historic Rally is held in Sanremo each April, for the Coppa dei Fiori. Poker: Sanremo hosts an annual poker tournament as part of the European Poker Tour, and is widely accepted as the origin of a variant form of five-card stud called Telesina or Teresina.

Festivals and flowers: Founded in Roman times, the city is a well-known tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. As well as the Milano - Sanremo, the town hosts the extremely popular Sanremo Music Festival (strictly speaking, the Sanremo Festival of Italian Song, held each spring since 1951, on which the Eurovision Song Contest - first held in 1956 - was modelled). Sanremo is known as “La Cittá dei Fiori” - the City of Flowers - due to important aspect of the economy of the city. Flowers from Sanremo adorn the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet in Stockholm in memory of Alfred Nobel, who spent his last years in Sanremo, and died there in 1896.



TV
The 2015 edition of the springtime Classicissima will be shown in 155 countries. The host broadcaster, Rai, will also broadcast the race live from 14:30 CET on Rai Sport 2, switching to Rai 3 at 15:40 for the decisive phase of racing and returning to Rai Sport 2 for post-race analysis.

Eurosport 1 will show Milano - Sanremo live in 53 countries across continental Europe, with commentary in 19 languages. Completing the panorama of live coverage in European are beIN Sports, who will broadcast the race in France, VRT and RTBF, who will do the same in Belgium (in Flemish and French, respectively), NOS in the Netherlands, TVE in Spain and SRG SSR in Switzerland (RSI in Italian, RTS in French and SRF in German).

In the Americas, Televisa Deportes Network will show Milano - Sanremo in Mexico and five other Central American countries, the English-speaking channel Sportsnet and the French-language RDS will show it in Canada, while beIN Sports will serve the United States; the latter also holds the rights for 23 territories in the Middle East and North Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Supersport will carry race highlights.

In Asia, the race will be shown live in 16 countries by Eurosport Asia-Pacific. Japan is served by J Sports and Australia by SBS, with highlights on Fox Sports (Australia). The key phase of the race will be shown in the Indian subcontinent on Sony TV, in Thailand on TrueVisions) and in Vietnam on FPT Telecom. Highlights of the springtime Classicissima will also be shown in New Zealand by SKY Sport NZ.

In total, 20 different networks will cover the 2015 Milano - Sanremo, 15 of them live.