The 105th Milano – Sanremo, organised by RCS Sport/La Gazzetta dello Sport, takes place this coming Sunday, 23 March. It is the first of the five great one-day monuments of the 2014 international cycling season. 
 
The Milano – Sanremo, also dubbed the Classicissima or the ‘World championship of the Spring,’  attracts many of the sport’s most prestigious names, first among them the winners of 6 previous Milano – Sanremo: Germany’s Gerald Ciolek (2013), Australia’s Simon Gerrans (2012), Mark Cavendish (2009) from the Isle of Man, Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara (2008), and the Italians Filippo Pozzato (2006) and Alessandro Petacchi (2005). 
 
Also among the provisional starters are: the Slovak Peter Sagan, the Germans André Greipel and John Degenkolb, the Belgian Phillippe Gilbert, the Norwegians Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd, Taylor Phinney of the United States of America, the French rider Arnaud Demare, Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski and the Italians Vincenzo Nibali, Moreno Moser and Diego Ulissi.
 
The race route announced on 28 February has finally been confirmed, with the Passo del Turchino just before the halfway point, the three Capi in quick succession (Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta) around the 250 km mark, and then the famous Cipressa and Poggio di Sanremo. The race route is that used in 2007, which saw victory by Oscar Freire won. Once again, it is most suited to the sprinters.

 

Recently, landslides and rain had threatened to force new alterations to the course after the heavy debate over the Pompeiana climb had already produced a stir but in the end, those changes have been deemed unnecessary.

TEAMS AND SELECT RIDERS
            •           AG2R La Mondiale (Rinaldo NOCENTINI, Davide APPOLLONIO)
            •           Androni Giocattoli (Franco PELLIZOTTI, Johnny HOOGERLAND)
            •           Astana Pro Team (Vincenzo NIBALI, Enrico GASPAROTTO)
            •           Bardiani CSF (Enrico BATTAGLIN, Sonny COLBRELLI)
            •           Belkin Pro Cycling Team (Bauke MOLLEMA, Lars Petter NORDHAUG)
            •           BMC Racing Team (Philippe GILBERT, Taylor PHINNEY)
            •           Cannondale (Peter SAGAN, Moreno MOSER)
            •           FDJ.FR (Arnaud DEMARE, Arthur VICHOT)
            •           Garmin Sharp (David MILLAR, Tom Jelte SLAGTER)
            •           IAM Cycling (Sylvain CHAVANEL, Heinrich HAUSSLER)
            •           Lampre - Merida (Filippo POZZATO, Diego ULISSI)
            •           Lotto Belisol (André GREIPEL, Tony GALLOPIN)
            •           Movistar Team (José Joaquín ROJAS, Adriano MALORI)
            •           MTN - Qhubeka (Gerald CIOLEK, Linus GERDEMANN)
            •           Omega Pharma - Quick-Step (Mark CAVENDISH, Alessandro PETACCHI)
            •           Orica GreenEdge (Simon GERRANS, Michael MATTHEWS)
            •           Team Europcar (Yukiya ARASHIRO, Bryan COQUARD)
            •           Team Giant - Shimano (John DEGENKOLB, Simon GESCHKE)
            •           Team Katusha (Alexander KRISTOFF, Luca PAOLINI)
            •           Team NetApp - Endura (Jan BARTA, Cesare BENEDETTI)
            •           Team Sky (Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Geraint THOMAS)
            •           Tinkoff Saxo (Daniele BENNATI, Roman KREUZIGER)
            •           Trek Factory Racing (Fabian CANCELLARA, Fabio FELLINE)
            •           UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling (Alessandro BAZZANA, Martijn MAASKANT)
            •           Yellow Fluo (Mauro FINETTO, Matteo RABOTTINI)