Should the route of Milano—Sanremo change?

[aruipksni]

before the Pog era I definitely would have liked the Civezza before the Cipressa. It would have given the race some possibilities to create some more caos. It would not have made the race super hard, but at least moved the only 10 minutes of action into a final were some early moves from other types of riders would have been possible. Under the current conditions, I think it's best for the race to let Pog try to win on a course that's not perfectly fit for him. So for now no changes.

i think that the main reason of this race is to attract (rich) tourists to this region (or it was before the anti tourist movement started lately), so ant change of route will be for the sightseeing purposes first, and not to make the race more interesting for riders.

 

[Lequack]

before the Pog era I definitely would have liked the Civezza before the Cipressa. It would have given the race some possibilities to create some more caos. It would not have made the race super hard, but at least moved the only 10 minutes of action into a final were some early moves from other types of riders would have been possible. Under the current conditions, I think it's best for the race to let Pog try to win on a course that's not perfectly fit for him. So for now no changes.

The Italians want Pog to keep coming back and attacking, but they don't want him to win, since then he might focus on other races.

 

[Gratemans]

Why? Dear god why would you want to change the one monument where every type of rider can win?!

(Starting in Milan again is fine of course, as it wouldn't change anything about the outcome)

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

i think that the main reason of this race is to attract (rich) tourists to this region

perhaps I should be glad that they let me watch it at all...

 

[Netserk]

i think that the main reason of this race is to attract (rich) tourists to this region (or it was before the anti tourist movement started lately), so ant change of route will be for the sightseeing purposes first, and not to make the race more interesting for riders.

Is there any of the multiple previous route changes that was done for sightseeing purposes, or is this just a hallucination?

 

[hayneplane]

Moving the start back to Milan seems very popular, but I can't imagine it would make the tiniest difference to the significant part of the race. Is this out of tradition, or scenery (I'd be surprised) or what?

I would imagine that is because the race is called Milan San Remo and that is what it should be. Well aware that Paris Roubaix also has not started in Paris for some time.

 

[Red Rick]

I would imagine that is because the race is called Milan San Remo and that is what it should be. Well aware that Paris Roubaix also has not started in Paris for some time.

What's even worse, during Liege-Bastogne-Liege riders don't even eat Bastogne cookies.

 

[RedheadDane]

What's even worse, during Liege-Bastogne-Liege riders don't even eat Bastogne cookies.

Never seen a single rider empty a bottle of Amstel Gold during the Amstel Gold Race!

 

[Red Rick]

Never seen a single rider empty a bottle of Amstel Gold during the Amstel Gold Race!

Thanks, now I will never not be disappointed watching that race ever again.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Nobody is ready for Red Rick Roadblocks, torches, pitchforks, bonfires, and hate glitter attacks when the route is changed.

No love for Teddy, it seems? He's such a nice boy who just wins races sometimes.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Never seen a single rider empty a bottle of Amstel Gold during the Amstel Gold Race!

Nor does it run along the banks of the Amstel.

 

[RedheadDane]

Nor does it run along the banks of the Amstel.

It's named for the beer, not the river.

 

[Brullnux]

Moving the start back to Milan seems very popular, but I can't imagine it would make the tiniest difference to the significant part of the race. Is this out of tradition, or scenery (I'd be surprised) or what?

The point is that it makes no difference to the race itself, but means that it is actually Milano Sanremo rather than random-town-in-Lombardy-near-Milano Sanremo

 

[hayneplane]

What's even worse, during Liege-Bastogne-Liege riders don't even eat Bastogne cookies.

Sacrilege

 

[Gigs_98]

I think with Milano Sanremo in particular the change was also largely just a paradigm shift. Teams would bring mainly rouleurs, and there would be no strong teams to set a hard pace on the Poggio. Riders trying to get away on the Poggio would just make solo attacks and then the small group would just be caught on the Via Roma.

It is probably also a bit of a coincidence that all the bunch sprints before 2017 as well as some of the non-bunch sprints after 2017 came in consecutive years. Like, there is no rational explanation why the Nibali win happened when it did. Some of our explanations here are partly just humans trying to find patterns in absolutely everything. But largely I agree there is a number of factors, not just one, which have influenced the race and made the recent iterations very entertaining.

 

[gavia88]

Why? Dear god why would you want to change the one monument where every type of rider can win?!

(Starting in Milan again is fine of course, as it wouldn't change anything about the outcome)

Because for a long time, since Zabel started winning this race, it has been an awful event to watch. Only lately the race has been exiting again. So, under the current generations of Aliens I wouldn't change the route neither. But for a long time races were only raced in the last kilometers of the race (only think about the awful version of LBL we had or only the last 3-4 kilometers of mountain stages). So, if you asked me the question in 2016, I definitely would have like a route change. But indeed not something to turn it into another hilly course (like many classics are). So, something between Cipressa and Poggio would make the race to hilly. But something before Cipressa could have helped to make the race less static. But now I would keep the story line that Pog wants to win this race so much, while the course is actually just to easy for him.