“Blue pedal is looking for a new Dancelli”. With yet another foreign success signed with a prodigious sprint by the Frenchman Arnaud Demare, born in 1991, it has been ten years since the Milan-San Remo has not seen an Italian cross the finish line in via Roma first. We are on the second longest historical fast for our home cycling in the spring classic. The first dates back to the sprint-dominated era of Rik Van Looy and Miguel Poblet until the beginning of the reign of Eddy Merckx. It was then necessary to wait 17 years for one of our riders to interrupt the sequence of foreign victories in 1970 after the last winning sprint in 1953 by Loretto Petrucci, a follower of Fausto Coppi with the white and blue colors of Bianchi, who had also hit Sanremo year before. A brace that made Petrucci believe that he had become a godfather enough to rebel against the great Fausto. A presumption that led him to disappear very soon. It was Michele Dancelli who brought Sanremo back to his homeland, with the Molteni jacket, author of a spectacular escape that also caught Merckx on the counterattack who at that time - still in the ranks of Faema - was already stockpiling victories like a true cannibal in every race which he participated. Enough to win seven Sanremos in his career, a record beyond the reach of any rider in circulation today.
Vincenzo Nibali, generous as always, was always in the running again this year. Even after the brow of the Poggio, he seemed able to do the feat by throwing himself in pursuit of Mikael Kwiatkowski who had crossed over to the top with a handful of seconds ahead of the loose group in single file. The Pole, a former world champion, was still in the lead when he returned to the Aurelia when there were less than 2 and a half km to go to the finish line. But under the impetus also of Cancellara and Sagan first Nibali was taken up and then Kwiatkowski himself. The usual final tussle broke out with Greg Van Avermaet trying to sprint, bringing along the Norwegian Boasson-Hagen and Tony Gallopin. But Cancellara was good at mending, bringing Kristoff, Bouhanni, Demare, Gaviria and all the other favorites back (with the exception of Michael Mattwes who crashed on the Cipressa and Mark Cavendish in obvious difficulty on the short bumps of the race). After almost 300 km of racing – modified on the road and lengthened by 4 km due to the fall of a terrifying landslide near Arenzano which obstructed the Aurelia and blocked it – it was once again the last few hundred meters via Rome that decided the fate of the classic n. 107. In the impetuous wind blown up by the group, the Colombian Gaviria, a sprinter of great promise, fell on the ground, messing up the trajectories of those who followed him. Nacer Bouhanni took advantage of it and seemed to have the victory in his pocket, but the transalpine sprinter collapsed in front of the powerful progression of Demare who overtook him by force to catch and overtake even the Englishman Ben Swift. Third was the Belgian Jurgen Roelandts. Fourth a very disappointed Bouhanni. Followed by Van Avermaet, Kristoff and Haussler. Eighth place for Filippo Pozzato, first of the Italians ahead of Colbrelli with Trentin closing the top ten. Sanremo raised the French tricolor 21 years after the last victory in 1995 by Laurent Jalabert. To review the Italian one – the last victory with Pozzato in 2006 – appointment once again postponed.
