Vincenzo Nibali and his Astana team had almost declared officially that the Italian would attack on the Cipressa in today's Milan-Sanremo and the Giro champion managed to build up a 50-second advantage by going off in a solo attack. Completely on his own, however, he could not hold off the charging bunch and lamented the lack of aggression from his rivals.

With the course being the easiest since 2007, Vincenzo Nibali found himself in the position of needing to go on the attack if he wanted to avoid a bunch sprint in Milan-Sanremo. In Saunday's Gazzetta dello Sport, his manager Giuseppe Martinelli had even officially declared that it would not be enough to wait to the Poggio to make the move and that Cipressa was the place to make the attack.

Nibali dutifully attacked on the penultimate climb but was frustratingly looking back to see that no one wanted to join him. The Italian continued on his own and built up a 50-second gap before being reeled in on the lower slopes of the Poggio.

The Italian failed to come away with a result and lamented the lack of aggressiveness from the riders who needed to rid themselves of the pure sprinters.

“I had spoken with a lot of guys in the peloton, especially with [Peter] Sagan," he told Cyclingnews at the finish. "He told me that he wanted to attack on the Cipressa but when I went myself, I saw that none of the riders who wanted to make the race hard on the Cipressa were following me.

“Maybe it was a lack of courage, a lack of legs or maybe because of the cold, I wouldn’t know. There were a lot of sprinters still there on the Poggio, like Cavendish, so I don’t know what happened behind. The word in the bunch was to try and make San Remo a lot more difficult in the finale because there wasn’t Le Manie or the Pompeiana this year.

“I think I did a good race and it would have been pointless for me to wait for the sprint. Maybe if I’d known it would be like that, I could have waited for the Poggio but it was very difficult. I was waiting for an ally and I turned around a few times to see if anyone was coming but there was nothing."

Nibali later continued his criticism on Twitter, writing “where are the riders with the balls of once upon a time?”

Tomorrow Nibali will decide whether to do the Criterium International before attending a two-week training camp at Mount Teide in preparation of the Ardennes classics.