San Remo still bewitched for Peter Sagan, mocked by a whisker by Michal Kwiatkowski, but it is a defeat which, even if it burns, further enhances the greatness of this authentic champion of the pedal who at the end of the Poggio made a cinematic extension, the the beginning of an interminable sprint of 4 meters towards the finish line in Sanremo, a feat that was only broken at the last second of a race lasting more than seven hours.
As often happens in the Classicissima, almost three hundred km of the race, everything is decided at the gates of Sanremo, on the ramps and the tortuous descent of the Poggio and in the final stretch of the Aurelia which leads to the finish in via Roma. Sagan was superb coming out and pulling everyone away before the brow, above all knocking out the sprinters who could beat him in a compact group sprint, the various Gaviria, Degenkolb, Kristoff, Matthews – disappointing Cavendish had excluded himself since the Cipressa .
Only the Polish Kwiatkowski and the French Julian Alaphilippe were good at catching up with the unleashed world champion in the dive from the Poggio. Sanremo was now a three-way match even if the other big names were chasing a handful of seconds away. About ten meters less would have been enough and today we would be here to celebrate the most beautiful of Sagan's many victories. Instead the Slovakian champion didn't need the last acrobatic kick, almost throwing the bike forward, to contain Kwiatkowski's comeback, who in the end, thanks to a less explosive race, had kept a bit more energy. The third, Alaphilippe, was there too, within the space of a few centimetres.
A heart-stopping finale, with Sagan leaning sideways from his bike in his extreme effort, almost leaning on Kwiatkowski who in turn leaned towards Sagan: it was a beautiful spot for cycling, which rightfully enters the centenary history of the San Remo. Also because, unlike the 2013 edition – the one interrupted by snow on Turchino – when Sagan was beaten by an outsider like Gerald Ciolek, this year it was a rider like Kwiatkowski who stole the victory from him, who at only 26 can already exhibiting a very noble palmarés in which the rainbow jersey of world champion in 2014, an Amstel Gold Race, and this year, before the Sanremo triumph, the victory by gap in the Strade Bianche.
