Mark Cavendish in case of sprint finish e Fabian Cancellara in case of a solo in the last kilometers behind or beyond the Poggio. They are the two big favorites for the next Milano-Sanremo which will open the season of the great spring classics on Saturday 17 March. For both, the British world champion who already appeared in great shape at the Tirenno-Adriatica and the Swiss who triumphed last Sunday in the suggestive race of the "White roads" on the dirt roads of the Sienese Chianti would be an encore. In the second group of favorites with the old but always formidable Spaniard Oscar Freire (already three successes on the Sanremo finish line), the Australian Matthew Goos (first last year), the American sprinter Tyler Farrar and the revived Tom Boonen could be placed – even if only for honor of his country – Filippo Pozzato, who in recent interviews does not hide his ambition, despite the damage suffered to his collarbone, to revive the victory obtained in 2005. The Belgian Philippe Gilbert would also have entered this squad by right if he Paris-Nice this week had not appeared in completely precarious form.
Mentioned the most popular, surprises are however always on the agenda. And a winner who makes us say "who is this man" like the Swiss Maechler in 1987 can never be excluded even if it is not desirable for a cycling that never needs a champion who knows how to repeat himself to excite. This is why those who care about the world of two wheels hope that Sanremo will have a noble winner such as to make people forget, if it were ever possible, that once again cycling is forced to face a season without its best representative, namely that Alberto Contador, banned for a not better ascertained infinitesimal trace of clenbuterol that emerged in the 2010 Tour. A sentence that came more than a year and a half late, amidst many doubts and no certainties, which took away from Contador not only the victory of the Tour two years ago (to the advantage of Andy Schleck, the Spaniard's most authoritative rival) but also that of last year's Giro d'Italia (finished for the first time at Michele Scarponi's table), even if in the pink race of the Gazzetta Contador, practically controlled every day, he has never been caught out.
In fact, there is no sport like cycling that enjoys hurting itself as if it felt the need to atone, more than anyone else, for the original sin of doping. There is no doubt that doping in cycling has been and still is (see the sensational case of Riccò) a recurring scourge to be pursued and eradicated. But because of the Taliban spirit hovering in the cycling courts – one of the most tiring sports for the duration of the effort – the dosage of penalties and punishments has completely disappeared. Taking the Tour away from Contador ok, but why the Giro too? Giro run and swept away by the Madrid-based rider who had regularly entered the Italian race while the CAS postponed the decision from month to month whether he or the veal of the famous steak was really doped.
A mess whose consequences also risk paying for the organizers of the Giro d'Italia who have chosen – an absolute novelty – Denmark as the place to carry out the first three stages of the pink race which will begin in May. A choice also sponsored by Saxobank, the Danish team, directed by Bjarne Riis in which Contador rides. Today, in fact, with his disqualification and the loss of the many points earned by the Spanish ace, Saxobank would not even qualify to be entered in the Giro and the Tour according to the regulations in force. Quite a puzzle for a team that had won the Pro Tour team classification for three years and will only have its top man back on August 5, just in time for Contador, after losing the Giro, the Tour and the London Olympics , to try to win the Vuelta. But this is today's cycling where the outcome of each race is linked not only to the strength of the legs but to the response of the test tube.
