Milan-San Remo - 23'rd March - *spoilers*

[The Couch]

The weather looks iffy, showers could make descending tricky.
It would favour someone like Nibali if he wasn't riding like a dog.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3173435

Gilbert, Sagan and Kwiatek all are very good descenders as well (and are among the pre-race favourites)

 

[laurence]

fab Fab for me.

 

[thom]

Last year's story in Rouleur's blog

 

[oldroadman]

240km of getting it done and avoiding the loony Italian pro conti teams. Then the real stuff starts. Poggio is crucial, top that with 45 seconds and there's just a chance... but apart from that, if Cav gets over it and down the other side near the front, it will come down to him versus whichever sprinters are left. Only thing to spoil the party might be Sagan going long (see comment about Poggio). All I know is it's bloomin' hard by then. Nearly 300km is a long way!
In days of old, it was even madder, sometimes up to 350 starters, with every local no-hope team trying for their 5 minutes of glory. If you think the crashes are bad now, it's nothing compared to what happened back then.

 

[beastie]

Light rain / drizzle forecast for much of the route, not much of a breeze

1. 246km remaining from 299km
   10:30:47 CET
   53km into the race and the seven leaders have 9'15 over the peloton.
   
   Matteo Bono (Lampre Merida), Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp), Nicola Boem (Bardiani), Antonio Parrinello (Androni Giocattoli), Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), Jan Barta (Netapp-Endura), Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthCare)
   Only 5 and a bit hours to go

 

[rich p]

So 100km gone, 200 to go and a 9 minute lead for the breakaway.
So they should win by 27 minutes by my maths.
Have I got this right?

 

[beastie]

So 100km gone, 200 to go and a 9 minute lead for the breakaway.
So they should win by 27 minutes by my maths.
Have I got this right?

You are UKcyclingexpert AICMFP.

"
The Milan-San Marino sportive is the longest of the year. (Well over 100 miles!) Unlike last year, no one is allowed to do the short route!"

 

[rich p]

Live at last on ES
83km to go and 6 minutes ahead now.
Wet Wet Wet

 

[Crackle]

Lots beginning to suffer now.

 

[raindog]

Crap conditions, although not as bad as last year, obviously.
Reports of snow at the finish though.

 

[thom]

Reports of snow at the finish though.

You're joking ?

 

[raindog]

Read that on CN updates.
Real shame Stannard isn't there - right up his street this kind of thing.

 

[rich p]

Strada, Raindog, strada!

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Wet Wet Wet

Marty Pellow on the front?

 

[rliu]

We needed the bad weather to get the excitement back into the race after all those sections that were taken out or re-routed, wouldn't be Milan-San Remo without some wind beaten faces