Eddy Merckx, who knows all about Sanremo having won seven, is betting on Mark Cavendish more than on Fabian Cancellara for today's one. In turn, Cancellara himself, perhaps to disguise himself, puts Slovakian Peter Sagan in first place, having seen him in great shape at the recent Tirreno-Adriatica. The game of favorites is always exciting, especially on the eve of a sacred race such as the Milan-San Remo which, with its 298 kilometres, confirms itself as the longest of the great classics of world cycling. Race often won by the kings of the sprints but there was no shortage of exciting solos on the edge of seconds, defended with the teeth, even risking the skin in the lunge down from the Poggio a step away from the finish line on the sea. The last one to anticipate the sprinters was Cancellara in 2008. Further back we go back to 2003 (Bettini), 1999 (Tchmil), or 2006 with Filippo Pozzato, the only former Italian winner at the start today together with Alessandro Petacchi. The beauty of the "very classic" is precisely its noble unpredictability, even if the Tirreno-Adriatico won by Nibali clearly brought out the excellent condition of three men above all: Cavendish, Cancellara and Sagan. Together with Tom Boonen and Oscar Freire they are the most feared foreigners. Soon after, the bookmakers put the Australian Matthew Goss (winner in 2011), the American Tyler Farrar and the Belgian Philippe Gilbert on the list of possible winners (although the latter does not appear in the best of condition). Names all important and capable of any exploit.
Thus the string of foreign victories seems to be getting longer: absent Ivan Basso, who fell in the Paris-Nice, to fuel some tricolor hope there are the usual Petacchi and Pozzato who have already known the triumph in the very classic. The last Italian success dates back to 2006. However, we are far from the record for the duration of the fast of Italian victories which reached 16 editions between 1953 (victory of Loretto Petrucci, a follower of Coppi, who made an encore in 1952) and 1970 (solo triumph for Michele Dancelli). In those three decades, champions of the caliber of Rik Van Looy, Miguel Poblet, Tommy Simpson dominated Sanremo. Then from 1966 the era of Eddy Merckx began. In 1961 a young Frenchman, Raymond Poulidor, also managed to win the Sanremo: the French immediately celebrated him as the new Louison Bobet. Instead he was only an eternal second always beaten by Jacques Anquetil. All names that remind us of a cycling that no longer exists.
Since 1989 Sanremo has not seen a winner capable of triumphing both in the one-day classics and in the major stage races: the last one was Laurent Fignon, the French champion who died last year at just 50 years of age. In the last two decades, no winner of the Giro and the Tour has made Sanremo his own, least of all Indurain and Armstrong, who often snubbed the race or raced it just to show some leg. Even Contador, today's number one in cycling, knocked out for the well-known affair of doping on steak, has never put Sanremo among his goals. So today's "very classic" does not feel like an orphan of the "matador" as the Giro and Tour will instead be. for tailor-made races to emerge: there's the grimpeur, the sprinter, the finisseur, the chronoman, all great but only in their own specialty. A progression by Cancellara is pure spectacle, likewise a sprint by Cavendish or Petacchi, but all three give up on their first real mountain. There are no more complete cyclists like Gimondi, Merckx and Hinault and also like Fignon and Saronni, capable of winning any race, in line, in stages, against the clock. Tour phenomenal Armstrong (he won seven in a row) also made an appearance for the rest of the season. Once again this year we don't see in the list of the great favorites of Sanremo a rider who can have his say in the great stage races to come. Cadel Evans, winner of the 2011 Tour, hasn't put it on his schedule. Andy Schleck, table winner of Contador's Tour, didn't even consider it.
Among the riders active today, the Spaniard Freire holds the most victories: three (2004, 2007 and 2010). Overall the record belongs to Eddy Mercx. And the last victory of the "cannibal" in 1976 coincided not only with his swan song (because from that day the Belgian champion set off on a rapid and tormented avenue of sunset) but also with the last Sanremo run on the feast of Saint Joseph. Born in 1907, from 1937 the Milan-San Remo, increasingly popular, carved out everything for itself on March 19th. San Giuseppe and the spring classic had become one, a great celebration for all cycling enthusiasts. Then Andreotti came to abolish quite a few holidays. So from 1977 Sanremo lost the fixed day and to defend itself from the Sunday invasiveness of football it took refuge on the Saturday closest to its historical date. By chance the first weekday Sanremo, that of 1977, was still held on Saturday 19 March. The Dutchman Jan Raas won it. He looked like a Carneade but the bespectacled tulip would also become world champion in 1979. And speaking of the rainbow jersey, not since 1983 with Giuseppe Saronni has a reigning world champion darted across the finish line in Sanremo first. A record that has never been under attack as this year due to the world championship presence of Cavendish, the strongest sprinter around today.
