How to watch Milan-San Remo in Canada

The first day of Spring is Thursday, which means La Primavera–the opening Spring monument Milan – San Remo, is around the corner–Saturday!

Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico are now behind us, so the focus shifts back to the one-day Classics, Milan-San Remo. 2025 brings added excitement with the return of the women’s edition. Formerly known as the Primavera Classic, which was last won by Trixi Worrack, it was held between 1999 and 2005. Now, it has been reintroduced as a new Women’s WorldTour event called Milan-San Remo Donne.

The men’s race

In 2024, Tadej Pogačar attacked on the Poggio from a group of 50 but was caught. His compatriot, 2022 champion Matej Mohorič, made a thrilling descent. The race ended in a sprint among a dozen, with Jasper Philipsen taking his first Monument, Michael Matthews second, and Pogačar third.

Mads Pedersen returns after a strong Paris-Nice, while Filippo Ganna and Tom Pidcock also come off solid performances. Pidcock secured his best-ever general classification result with a sixth-place finish at Tirreno-Adriatico. His Canadian teammate, Nickolas Zukowsky–who rode well as a workhorse at the Italian stage race, will be the only Canadian.

The women’s race

Most of the top names will contest the women’s race. FDJ-Suez’s Strade Bianche winner Demi Vollering and Juliette Labous will face world champion Lotte Kopecky, Blanka Vas (runner-up at Trofeo Alfredo Binda), and Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime. Katarzyna Niewiadoma will aim to recover from her Strade Bianche setback. Elisa Balsamo, fresh off her third Trofeo Alfredo Binda win in four years, is Lidl-Trek’s strongest rider. Elisa Longo Borghini, who won the UAE Tour for UAE Team ADQ and placed 10th at Binda, joins Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos as part of a strong Visma-Lease a Bike team.

The Canadian riders include Olivia Baril, Sarah van Dam, Simone Boilard, Magdéléine Vallières, and Alison Jackson, returning after six weeks of recovery from a broken scaphoid sustained in the UAE Tour.

The first half of the men’s 288-km course travels south from Pavia to Passo Turchino, then descends to the west of Genoa, heading southwest along the Ligurian coast to the three Capi. With 27.5 km to go, the 6-km Cipressa will create a selection, followed by the famous Poggio with 5.5 km to the finish on Via Roma.

The women’s edition starts in Genoa and covers the second half of the men’s course for a total of 156 km, including the three Capi, Cipressa, and Poggio.

If you want to check out all the action at La Primavera, here’s the deets. The coverage for the men’s race on FloBikes.com begins at 5:05 a.m. EDT. The women’s coverage on FloBikes.com starts at 7:30 a.m. EDT.  Listen, both races are very long and although they usually come down to the final climbs, you can always multitask with the race in the background. Have you done your taxes yet? Here’s some things you can do while watching.