The cycling race Milan Sanremo is the 1st important race for professional cyclists and is part of the 5 monuments: Milan Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, Liège Bastogne and Liège and the Tour of Lombardy.
The race is called La Primavera (spring) in Italian and thus also opens the official cycling calendar. The competition usually takes place in March, but in 2020 this was in August due to the Corona Virus and therefore in completely different circumstances. This version was won by our compatriot Wout Van Aert.
photo from the Milan Sanremo 1922 edition
The first Milan Sanremo took place on April 14, 1907 and was won by Frenchman Lucien Petit Breton. Since then, the competition has become a true classic with many wonderful winners and legendary anecdotes.
Below some facts
Course: Starting place is the Piazza del Duomo in Milan and the destination is the fashionable seaside resort Sanremo, located on the Ligurian coast
March 19: Milan Sanremo used to be ridden on March 19, feast day of Saint Joseph. From 1953 this is on the Saturday closest to it, with the exception of some years when the competition was organized on Sunday.
Passo del Turchino: this is the first climb the riders will be presented with after 140km and is also the highest of all the climbs to be conquered during Milan San Remo.
Capo Mele, Capo Cervo en Capo Berta: are 3 short sharp slopes that are 52km from the finish
Cipressa and Poggio: are the last slopes at the end of the race and therefore also executioners. Anyone who is no longer fresh here can forget it. The Cipressa is 21km from the finish and was only included in the course in 1980. The Poggio is 5km from the finish.
Eddy Merckx: the cannibal won this competition no less than 7 times and is still the record holder with 1 victory more than the Italian Costante Girardengo.
Erik Zabel: is the only one who could win Milan Sanremo 4 times in the period of what we call modern cycling: namely in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. He could have won even 5 times, but in 2004 he raised his hands too early, leaving him on the meet was knocked out by Spaniard Oscar Freire.
51 victories: the number of times an Italian won the competition, followed by Belgium (22 times) and France (14 times)
Win in world champion's jersey: 4 riders could win Milan Sanremo in the world champion's jersey, namely Alfredo Binda (1931), Eddy Merckx (1972 and 1975), Felice Gimondi (1974) and Giuseppe Saronni (1983)
Mark Cavendish: was the last to immediately win on his debut, namely in 2009
3 arrivals: in its history La Primavera has had 3 different arrivals: the corso Felice Cavalotti (1907 – 1948), lungomare Italo Calvino (2008 – 2014) and the via Roma (1949 – 2007 and again from 2015)
298km: is the distance from Milan Sanremo making it the longest of the classics
Jasper Philipsen: won the fastest edition ever in 2024 with an average speed of no less than 46.113 km/hour, so the riders rode a lot faster than in 1990 when the Italian Gianni Bugno won with an average speed of 45.8 km/hour
Primavera Rosa: was the women's edition held from 1999 to 2005 on the same course as their male counterparts but over a shorter distance
Andrei Tchmil: is still the oldest winner at 36 years and 57 days. He won the 1999 edition
Dutch victories Only 4 Dutch cyclists could win La Primavera, namely Arie den Hartog in 1965, Jan Raas in 1977, Hennie Kuiper in 1985 and Mathieu Van der Poel in 2023.
39 or 21?: That's how long it took to wait for another Belgian victory that came with Wout van Aert. In 1981 Fons De Wolf won and in 1999 the naturalized Belgian Andrei Tchmil. In the meantime, several Belgian victories have been added with Jasper Stuyven in 2021 and Jasper Philipsen in 2024.
2013: was an edition that will be remembered for a long time. The weather conditions were appalling and the race was halted in Ovada after 117km, then the riders were bussed to Arenzano where another 120km had to be covered. It was also the edition in which it Castelli Gabba jasje definitief bekend werd (See more)
Below you will find all winners since 1907, the first time Milan Sanremo was organized.
| 1907 | Lucien Petit-Breton | 1952 | Loretto Petrucci | 1997 | Erik Zabel |
| 1908 | Cyrille Van Hauwaert | 1953 | Loretto Petrucci | 1998 | Erik Zabel |
| 1909 | Luigi Ganna | 1954 | Rik Van Steenbergen | 1999 | Andrei Tchmil |
| 1910 | Eugène Christophe | 1955 | Germain Derycke | 2000 | Erik Zabel |
| 1911 | Gustave Garrigou | 1956 | Fred De Bruyne | 2001 | Erik Zabel |
| 1912 | Henri Pélissier | 1957 | Miguel Poblet | 2002 | Mario Cipollini |
| 1913 | Odiel Defraeye | 1958 | Rik Van Looy | 2003 | Paolo Bettini |
| 1914 | Ugo Agostoni | 1959 | Miguel Poblet | 2004 | Oscar Freire |
| 1915 | Ezio Corlaita | 1960 | René Privat | 2005 | Alessandro Petacchi |
| 1916 | geen organisatie | 1961 | Raymond Poulidor | 2006 | Filippo Pozzato |
| 1917 | Gaetano Belloni | 1962 | Emile Daems | 2007 | Oscar Freire |
| 1918 | Costante Girardengo | 1963 | Joseph Groussard | 2008 | Fabian Cancellara |
| 1919 | Angelo Gremo | 1964 | Tom Simpson | 2009 | Mark Cavendish |
| 1920 | Gaetano Belloni | 1965 | Arie den Hartog | 2010 | Oscar Freire |
| 1921 | Costante Girardengo | 1966 | Eddy Merckx | 2011 | Matthew Goss |
| 1922 | Giovanni Brunero | 1967 | Eddy Merckx | 2012 | Simon Gerrans |
| 1923 | Costante Girardengo | 1968 | Rudi Altig | 2013 | Gerard Ciolek |
| 1924 | Pietro Linari | 1969 | Eddy Merckx | 2014 | Alexander Kristoff |
| 1925 | Costante Girardengo | 1970 | Michele Dancelli | 2015 | John Degenkolb |
| 1926 | Costante Girardengo | 1971 | Eddy Merckx | 2016 | Arnaud Démare |
| 1927 | Pietro Chesi | 1972 | Eddy Merckx | 2017 | Michal Kwiatkowski |
| 1928 | Costante Girardengo | 1973 | Roger De Vlaeminck | 2018 | Vincenzo Nibali |
| 1929 | Alfredo Binda | 1974 | Felice Gimondi | 2019 | Julian Alaphilippe |
| 1930 | Michele Mara | 1975 | Eddy Merckx | 2020 | Wout van Aert |
| 1931 | Alfredo Binda | 1976 | Eddy Merckx | 2021 | Jasper Stuyven |
| 1932 | Alfredo Bovet | 1977 | Jan Raas | 2022 | Matej Mohoric |
| 1933 | Learco Guerra | 1978 | Roger De Vlaeminck | 2023 | Mathieu van der Poel |
| 1934 | Jef Demuysere | 1979 | Roger De Vlaeminck | 2024 | Jasper Philipsen |
| 1935 | Giuseppe Olmo | 1980 | Pierino Gavazzi | ||
| 1936 | Angelo Varetto | 1981 | Fons De Wolf | ||
| 1937 | Cesare Del Cancia | 1982 | Marc Gomez | ||
| 1938 | Giuseppe Olmo | 1983 | Giuseppe Saronni | ||
| 1939 | Gino Bartali | 1984 | Francesco Moser | ||
| 1940 | Gino Bartali | 1985 | Hennie Kuiper | ||
| 1941 | Pierino Favalli | 1986 | Sean Kelly | ||
| 1942 | Adolfo Leoni | 1987 | Eric Machler | ||
| 1943 | Cino Cinelli | 1988 | Laurent Fignon | ||
| 1944 | geen organisatie | 1989 | Laurent Fignon | ||
| 1945 | geen organisatie | 1990 | Gianni Bugno | ||
| 1946 | Fausto Coppi | 1991 | Claudio Chiapucci | ||
| 1947 | Gino Bartali | 1992 | Sean Kelly | ||
| 1948 | Fausto Coppi | 1993 | Maurizio Fondriest | ||
| 1949 | Fausto Coppi | 1994 | Giorgio Furlan | ||
| 1950 | Gino Bartali | 1995 | Laurent Jalabert | ||
| 1951 | Louison Bobet | 1996 | Gabriele Colombo |
