If there’s one thing Milan-San Remo has in its favour, it’s anticipation – not only because it’s the season’s first Monument (the big five one-day races on the men’s calendar).
Il Lombardia, the fifth Monument of the year, has the benefit of being the last, but other races can get lost on the calendar. Being first, however, commands a big audience, as well as a peloton fresh and chomping at the bit to get going.
Anticipation is also reflected at Milan-San Remo in the way the race unfolds. Nudging 300km (this year’s course is 289km), it’s the longest race on the calendar and, for 90% of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking not much of note is happening.
The peloton departs on flat roads – no longer from Milan but from Pavia, a town 35km south – and heads towards the Mediterranean coast. To get there, it scales the Turchino Pass, before heading west, largely along coastal roads, for the second half.
It gets more undulating at this point, followed by a trio of Capi – more substantial rises – in the final quarter.
Still, nothing much typically happens until the Cipressa (5.6km at 4.1%), which in many years can be negotiated without too much disruption to the peloton.
It’s only on the Poggio (3.7km at 3.7%), the summit of which is only 5.6km from the San Remo finish after more than six hours of racing, where moves tend to be made. If the leader at the summit has any sort of gap, being pursued by a rampaging chase group down a highly technical descent will reveal their capacity for downhills.
Wins can be fashioned in several ways, including making a solo breakaway stick, with a daring descent off the Poggio or winning in a sprint of various-sized bunches.
The fact it happens so quickly, after so long without much happening at all, and that it can produce such a variety of winning scenarios, is what makes Milan-San Remo so popular. It’s also one of the few races on the calendar that such different sorts of riders can win.
Sprinter Arnaud Démare, for example, won it in 2016, followed up two years later by Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali. It’s a race that holds immense promise for so many riders at the outset, and one in which there’s so much to be gained from the briefest of hard efforts and acts of cunning in the finale.
To hammer home the point, at the time of writing, the three top favourites for 2025's race are Classics rider extraordinaire Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), three-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), and the world’s top sprinter (and last year’s winner) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). More than any other race on the calendar, a winner is impossible to call.
This year sees the welcome return of Milan-San Remo Women after a 20-year absence. A copy of the men’s route would blow the kilometre limit for women’s races out of the water, which means it starts in the coastal city of Genoa.
Its 156km route picks up the men’s course in Voltri at 18km and follows the same route to San Remo – in other words, the races share all the same best bits.
Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx Protime), as is often the case in one-day races at the moment, starts as favourite. However, she will face stiff competition from home favourite Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and former team-mate turned arch-rival Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in the UK?
UK residents are still dealing with the shock of Eurosport’s closure, where live cycling could previously be accessed for £6.99 a month. That’s since risen to £30.99 a month, after Eurosport’s coverage was rolled into TNT Sports by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Live coverage of both races on 22 March begins with the men, on TNT Sports 2 from 8.30am, covering the whole race until 4.30pm. The women’s race is on TNT Sports 3 from 11am UK time (until 2pm). TNT Sports is available via the Discovery+ app, EE TV, Sky and Virgin Media.
How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in the US?
FloBikes streams both races in the US, with costs starting from $12.50 when signing up to an annual plan. It’s also available on Max (formerly HBO Max), which is part of the Warner Bros. Discovery group – monthly subscriptions start from $9.99.
Coverage on FloBikes begins with the men’s race at 5.05am ET, with the women’s race following at 7.30am ET.
How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in Australia?
SBS will be covering the men’s and women’s races, with coverage starting from 10.25pm (Sydney time).
How else can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025?
There’s live terrestrial coverage in many European countries. Italian national broadcaster RAI is a race partner and official broadcaster, and will be showing the race live and on-demand, with coverage of the women's race on RAI 2 from 1.30pm CET. The men’s race will be shown on Rai2 from 2.25pm.
