Milan-San Remo: The race to the sun

The professional cycling season unofficially started last week with the running of the  99th “Milan San Remo”. The race is like the change of the season-winter to spring, as the race starts from the cold northern city of Milan, fashion capital of Italy and ends in warm sunshine in the southern city of San Remo. That’s why its called as the “La Primavera”, or the “Race to the Sun” and is considered as the most beautiful bicycle race in the world.

While the official cycling season started in Australia early in January with the Tour Down Under, MSR is the first race where you won’t hear somebody say that a cyclist is using this “classic” as a preparation for an upcoming race. The Italians love for this one day race could only be equaled by their love for the 3-week national race, the Giro d’Italia. And Italians can really be demonstrative about their feelings like only the Italians can.

MSR is like an anachronism. In an era where races are shortened to minimize the wear and tear of a cyclists body (and therefore use of illegal drugs), MSR is basically a 300K and a seven hour slog on a bicycle. This race, which is usually schedule around Easter Sunday, was first run in 1907 and was only interrupted by the two World Wars. In the early days of the race, the winner’s time could reach as much as 12 hours. Italian great Gianni Bugno holds the record time for this race when he finished the 294km race averaging an astonishing speed of 46.8KPH in 1990!

While considered as a sprinter’s race, a few riders have thwarted the fastmen. The latest rider to do so was Swiss Fabian Cancellara who broke away with 3K’s to go last week. While the parcours is basically flat, there are two climbs just before the finish that most of the time determines the champion. They are the Cipressa (5.6km) and the Poggio (3.7km). After the descent from the Poggio, the race is a 3km drag race to the finish at Via Roma. If the sprinters and there teams are still around, then the race goes to them. But if a small break is allowed, then, there is a good change that it will succeed.

The descent of the Poggio is not for the faint hearted. In the 1992 edition, the Italian superstar Moreno Argentin had a healthy 15sec lead going down the Poggio. In that race, the finish line was just a K after the descent so everybody thought that the race was already in Argentin’s bag.

The chase was led by Maurizio Fondriest (who’d win the following year) with Irishman Sean Kelly, behind Fondriest. Kelly, regarded as one of the best sprinters of the sport, feeling that the speed Fondriest was taking along the downhill hairpins was too slow, made a daredevil descent that not even the best bicycle descenders in the world could follow.

Maybe Argentin got complacent or maybe Kelly, who was considered past his prime in 1992, was the hungrier rider. With a K to go, Kelly caught his quarry. With the peloton breathing hard on their backs, Argentins limited choices was to be runner up to Kelly or just become a name in the finishing list. He chose the former.

But if there is to be a Mr. MSR, it would be none other than the G.O.A.T., Eddy Merckx. From 1966 to 1976, Merckx would win MSR 7-times! The next rider to have the most wins is German Erik Zabel, who would have won the race 5-times had he not raised his hands prematurely in 2004, handing the victory to Spaniard Oscar Freire. Zabel, by the way, is still racing today.

NOTES: There sill be a road race this coming April 6. Route is Danao-Lugo-Danao. This is sponsored by Congressman Red Durano and the Danao Sports Commission. Categories include A, B/C, By Invite and Red Baron Cat. See you at the races!