MILAN-SAN REMO

The spring cycling classics traditionally get underway with yesterday's Milan-San Remo, one of the five monuments, or hardest races. In terms of difficulty, "La Classicissima" doesn't have the cobblestones of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, or the hills of Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Tour of Lombardy. What it does have are length (at 298km, it is by far the longest one-day race, longer even than the World Championships), and a couple of short, sharp climbs just before the finish that thin out the leading group. Most teams' strategy is to help their sprinter over those climbs, so they are there to contest the finish. Sprinters had won in seven of the last ten years, and were favourite to win again this time round.

It didn't work out that way. A crash some 90km before the finish split the peloton in two, with most of the sprinter favourites in the second group. Since the front group had 44 people in it, it was not possible to chase it down, so the bunch that reached the last climb, the Poggio, with 10km to go, had different sorts of riders in it. Coming into San Remo, that group had been whittled down to eight. Matthew Goss, a young Australian and the last recognised sprinter in it, took the win ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Phillipe Gilbert. Cancellara had won in 2008 with a time-trial attack in the last kilometre, but had to settle for second this time around.

All eyes now move to Belgium and northern France for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Can Cancellara repeat his double from last year? That would certainly seal his reputation as one of the greatest cyclists of modern times. He is certainly in form, and I wouldn't put it past him.

Walter Blotscher