Milan-San Remo: Riders in the storm

With inclement weather enveloping Europe the past months, lots of cycling events have been cancelled. But for the biggest show at this point of the year, Milan-San Remo (MSR) cancellation was out of the question. At nearly freezing temperatures, the 295km between Milan and San Remo was on. But then at the midpoint, snowy conditions became so dangerous that race organizers decided to stop the race and bus the cyclist 60km southward for a restart. It was so cold that riders looked like Michelin men and some riders lost feeling in their hands.

The 2013 MSR is the 106th edition and it's a race that every Italian cyclist would kill to win it. There is no major difficulty, because it is basically flat but small hills are scattered along the route. And the distance, of course.

The first 270km is about positioning in the peloton, hiding from the wind and keeping the matchsticks warm for the eventual fireworks. The best place to stay in the peloton is in the first 20 riders because crashes usually occur at the back and you don't want to be caught behind a crash if it happens. But since but everybody knows that the fight for the sweet spot is always on.

The favorite this year was the 23 years old sensation, Peter Sagan. And he didn't disappoint. With about 10km to go, he instructed his teammate, Moreno Moser, to set a high tempo on the 3km climb of the Poggio. As Sagan crested the summit, only Fabian Cancellara, Luca Paolini and Gerald Ciolek could match his wheel.

For me, the descent on the Poggio, with so many hairpins, is the most critical part of the race. After 5 and a half hours of racing and 6 km to go, the body is in oxygen debt and a little hesitation here and there could lose you the race, or make you crash..Luckily, they were all good.

As the quarter-led Sagan reached the bottom, they caught the two earlier breakaways, Sylvain Chavanel and Ian Stannard. They had 3km of flats to go. Of the six, it was Ciolek who had a sprinter's pedigree. He had beaten Erik Zabel before but his palmares was empty the past 5 years. As for Sagan, he had beaten Mark Cavendish a few days earlier so his confidence was sky high.

Then Stannard decided that he'd lose in the sprint anyway so he broke away. He got a gap before Sagan blinked and started chasing and caught the Brit. It was gruppocompatto again.  With 200m to go, he looked to his left and saw Chavanel winding up his sprint. Instead of waiting for a few seconds to make his sprint shorter, he started his own sprint. Ciolek, who never did anything and was fresh as a hot bread, clipped Sagan on the line.

Clearly, Sagan underestimated Ciolek and did too much work for his own good. In the end, the 2013 MSR was a fantastic race. The weather made it more memorable and the organizers were right in not cancelling it!

Finally, Fabian Cancellara made good of his promise by winning last Friday's E3 Harelbeke, a semi-classic used as a preparation for the Tour of Flanders (March 31) and Paris-Roubaix (April 7). He dropped Sagan, Boonen and Chavanela with 35km to go to win despite a powerful chase from behind……