Ciolek wins Milan-San Remo

German sprinter Gerald Ciolek won an exciting, snow-shortened Milan-San Remo, pipping Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Cannondale) in a six-man sprint on the Via Roma. 2008 winner Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland/RadioShack-Leopard) came third.

Once again wretched weather was the order of the day in a European race this season. Soon after a six-man breakaway had maxed its lead out to 12:30, race officials announced that the Turchino, the first and longest climb of the race, would be bypassed because of falling snow. Team busses would transport the riders from kilometre 117 to kilometre 163, with the escape’s 7:10 gap to be maintained.

The chilled, driving rain played havoc on the peloton, with several favoured riders like Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s Tom Boonen (Belgium) and 2011 winner Matty Goss (Australia/Orica-GreenEdge) climbing off their bikes at the transfer, and Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) did not making it to the climbs at the race’s end.

Astana, Lotto, Cannondale and Lampre all worked in the bunch to control the breakaway’s gap, but it was Sky that took over on the capi , the little hills of Melo, Cervo and Berta that began at the 50-kilometre-to-go mark. The escape, crumbled to three riders, was overtaken with 30 kilometres to go.

The attacks began soon after the race came together, with raider extraordinaire Sylvain Chavanel (France/Omega Pharma) part of a failed five man move on the first of the two main determining hills, the Cipressa. World champion Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC) attacked on the Cipressa’s descent and a few key players joined him, but again the race compacted.

The decisive move was started by Ian Stannard (Great Britain/Sky), Russian Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Chavanel. They enjoyed a gap but little harmony. Before the summit of the famed Poggio, the Russian had been shed and Ciolek, Sagan, Cancellara, Luca Paolini (Italy/Katusha) had bridged over. The race would come down to this sextet.

The leading group attacked one another on the flat leading to the finish, with Stannard’s bolting looking the most dangerous. However, they came together again, prompting Sagan to lead out the sprint. Ciolek had just enough in his legs to make history for his team, as MTN-Qhubeka becomes the first African squad to win a WorldTour race.