24 hours from the Milan-San Remo, Peter Sagan is the first of the great favorites of the "very spring classic", given at 4 in Snai bets. The Slovakian from Cannondale, second last year behind the German Gerald Ciolek, precedes Mark Cavendish at 6, John Degenkolb at 8, Fabian Cancellara at 12, Arnaud Demare and André Greipel at 15 and Philippe Gilbert at 20.
As you can see, also this year the favorites of the predictions do not leave that small circle of great sprinters or classy long distance riders capable of irresistible progressions in view of the finish line. With the ascent of the Pompeiana, which would have cost almost 300 km, it would have been a different story. The same starlist of starters would have seen fewer sprinters among the members but more prestigious names of great international cycling. And this is a "minus sign" for Sanremo on which the organizers of the race must reflect. Too many big names have deserted it, from Contador to Froome, from Valverde to Joaquin Rodriguez, preferring the Vuelta y Catalunya which starts on Monday. Only Nibali, among the runners of this caliber, has chosen to run the Sanremo even if the form shown at the Paris-Nice does not offer him big talk.
But the Squalo, given at 33 in Snai quotas, is unpredictable and the Poggio with its ramps and subsequent technical descent teases him. And Nibali already came close to winning it, finishing third in the 2012 edition. Among the Italians are Modolo and Ulissi, both given at 25, the first in the predictions. Even Ciolek, the winner of the last edition hit by bad weather, is listed at 25 like the Australian Gerrans, who triumphed in 2012. In practice both Gerrans and Ciolek were surprises. Cancellara knows something about it at his own expense, the indomitable star of the spring classics, who has been on the Sanremo podium for three years without however winning it since the now distant 2008. Also for this reason the surprise, under the heading "other" is given to 8 for this year's Sanremo.
