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Incredible win for Nibali at Milan-San Remo

The Shark surprises the field with lethal Poggio attack

Having won all three Grand Tours, Vincenzo Nibali added a massive triumph to his considerable palmares on Saturday when he earned the 2018 Milan-San Remo title with a devastating attack on the Poggio. Nibali is the first Italian to take La Primavera in 12-years. It’s his third Monument victory following two Il Lombardia titles.

The riders started the epic 294-km contest in the rain but found the Via Roma in San Remo dry.

The Escape

A nontet of escapees–all from wildcard teams save one–bolted after the rainy start in Milan and rolled up a 7:00 lead after 60-km of racing. The gap was down to 4:30 by the longest climb of the race, the Passo del Turchino at the 117-km mark. Soon after the field reached the Ligurian coast and headed west towards San Remo.

Somehow, a motorist bumbled his/her way onto the course but all the riders got around safely.

The fugitives’ gap shrank, grew again and dipped to 2:20 before the first of the tre capi –the 1.8-km, 3.9% Capo Mele with 56-km remaining. Sky, Bora-Hansgrohe and Quick Step all lent a hand in leading the drying bunch. BMC featured up front heading onto Capo Cervo. A few crashes in the field on the little hills gave the fragmenting escape a lifeline.

Cipressa

The penultimate climb is where the action usually really whips up. Starting with 26-km to go, the Cipressa is 5.6-km long and 4.1 percent with a maximum of 9%. The breakaway had been absorbed before BMC, Groupama-FDJ and LottoNL-Jumbo led the way to its foot.

The peloton shattered to pieces on the Cipressa, with Marcel Kittel (Germany/Katusha) one of the sprinters out the back. There was a decanting but no attacks.

The Poggio

Surely someone would try to dash away on the Poggio. Beginning with 8-km remaining, the 3.7-km, 3.7 percent ascent had a section of 8 percent. Groupama-FDJ again mobbed the front on the flat between the two climbs. One has to be well positioned leading onto the Poggio to have any chance at winning. A crash with 10-km to go thwarted the ambitions of several riders including the unfortunate Mark Cavendish.

The first attack was from BMC’s Jean-Pierre Drucker but Bahrain-Merida reeled in the Luxembourger. Fittingly the team’s captain Vincenzo Nibali then skipped away. He went over the top with a 6-second lead. The tifosi were going bonkers.

Nibali led the white-knuckle descent off the Poggio with Matteo Trentin (Italy/Quick Step) and Peter Sagan heading up the pursuit. But Nibali would not be denied his famous win. Caleb Ewan (Australia/Mitchelton-Scott) was the fastest out of the chasing pack. Winner of the 2016 edition, Arnaud Démare (France/Groupama-FDJ) rounded out the podium.

Both Canadians in the race, Guillaume Boivin (Israel Cycling Academy) and Svein Tuft (Mitchelton-Scott) finished, with Boivin 47th and Tuft 152nd.

2018 Milan-San Remo

1) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) 7:18:43
2) Caleb Ewan (Australia/Mitchelton-Scott) s.t.
3) Arnaud Démare (France/Groupama-FDJ) s.t.
47) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Cycling Academy) +0:32
152) Svein Tuft (Canada/Mitchelton-Scott) +16:13