Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013

Eddy Planckert  photo:cor vos
Eddy Planckert and Marc Sergeant photo:cor vos

Finally, we have Milan-Sanremo. I hope pedale.forcetta is ready to shoot some pictures, especially black and white because it will be cold and possibly wet. Throw in a little wind and a race of this distance will weed out the less hardy. Recently, but not too recently, this race would be won out of a decent size field sprint. And yet, besides Fabs winning in 2008 it does come down to a sprint finish of some size. That race was setting up for a field sprint when Cancellara bolted and no one could catch him. The solo charge to the finish just doesn’t seem to work here. It is such an interesting race because the finish is unlike any of the other monuments. Moreno Argentin lost the race because he was not as good as descender as Kelly. Getting down the Cipressa and Poggio well is not easy. The descents are tight narrow Italian roads, hairpin turns, madness. Fabs and Sagan are two excellent descenders and Sagan has a killer sprint. NIbali just won Terreno. Thor has recovered. Boonen is back with Cavendish, on the same team! Gilbert is wearing the rainbow jersey. Andy Schleck has pre-dropped out. God Damnit, if you are going to get up at some weird hour of the night to watch a race this year, this is it people.

An American has never won one of cycling’s monuments and Sunday’s race does not seem to be where it is going to happen. Tyler Farrar would have to latch onto a special train and surely Cancellara will not be towing people to the line this year. The odds of Australian riders winning the last two editions were very long but it demonstrates how exciting and unpredictable this race is.

Here is the incomplete start list, it will be updated when available. No Delgados, no whining, the betting window is now open. Get you picks in before the countdown timer goes to zero at midnight Pacific Time. The winner of this event is awarded the MSR comment badge for the remainder of the season.

Here is a little video from last year, interesting more for the behind the scenes action and the amount of bleeped out cursing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAKie2XiU0[/youtube]

[vsp_results id=”22700″/]

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461 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013”

  1. I love the lead photo here. Gianni – nice choice going for two riders who never won M-SR. I’ve said it before, Momuments should only be photographed in B&W. Look at the grime on the legs and faces. Their caps are long gone. No helmets, no sunglasses, just a thousand yard stare from Eddy and grim determination from Marc. The kilometers are taking their toll and the bunch is closing in. Dreams are about to get shattered. Beautiful!

  2. Sagan takes it from a 4 man break containing the usual suspects.  Boonen takes the sprint from the reduced by atrocious conditions peloton.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Cancellara
    3. Chavanel, Sylvain
    4. Nibbles
    5. Boonen

  3. Thank fuck it’s the weekend. Just been one of those weeks, not terrible, just… Meh.

    To improve matters it’s MSR time, I haven’t Delgado’d, and I’ve got a pile if shiny new bits to bolt to my bike. All I need is a beer and everything will be fine, just fine.

    But that wouldn’t be good preparation for racing tomorrow, so I’ll behave and save it for recovery time.

    Sagan and Nibbles to clear off by descending the Poggio like maniacs, Thor and Boss Hog for a Scandi-scrap for the podium, Cav taking the bunch gallop from the rest.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Nibbles
    3. God of Thunder
    4. Boss Hog
    5. Cav

  4. I don’t know why I’m not picking Sparticus, but I don’t think that tactically he does’t vave this race figured out.  He’ll pull a big group to the end and get shut out.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cavendish
    2. Sagan
    3. Nibali
    4. Edvald Boasson Hagen
    5. Hushovd

  5. @DerHoggz

    The UCI would like to know what we think about cycling as it exists today. Take the survey, maybe Pat won’t just throw it out and keep on keeping on?

    http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?id=OTA2NQ&MenuId=MTYzMDQ&LangId=1&BackLink=%2FTemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI8%2Flayout.asp%3FMenuID%3DMTYzMDQ%26LangId%3D1

    Ends today?  WTF!  my comments were

    The UCI should have as its number one priority the cleaning up of the sport.  This is larger than egos or self interest and its current efforts in this area are poor.  The idea that publicising positive test in a fair and timely manner should change depending on who the rider is, is tant amount to corruption and the management of the UCI currently has a lot to answer for.  The fact that it is taking the media to raise these issues highlights how poor cyclings anti-doping program has been and its approach to resolving these matters.  Both the Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador debacle being a case in point.  Cyclists should live and work in an environment where being clean is the default expectation and failure brings the full force of the regulations down on the individuals.  Key sponsorship is leaving the sport and this is as a direct result of lack of leadership at the top of the UCI for many years.

  6. I just can’t go with Cavendish this year after I watched him sit up mid-way through the race last year. 

    Sagan, with his climbing ability, is going to drive the field over the Poggio and leave most of the sprinters in the dust.  But he’ll tire and fall off from the effort and, after Spartacus tows a late break all the way to the finish, Gilbert (who looked like he was rounding into form during Paris-Nice last week)  is going to be this year’s Gerrans and go around Faboo during the last 500 meters and take the top spot on the podium.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Gilbert
    2. Nibbles
    3. Faboo
    4. Sagan
    5. Rickshaw

  7. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Vincenzo Nibali
    3. Matty Goss
    4. Andre Greipel
    5. Tom Boonen

  8. What a weekend! Gonna be around 20*C here tomorrow, cycling & swimming (for fun at the quarry, not as part of a try, you nuts!), then on Sunday…Milan Sanremo + corned beef & cabbage in the afternoon. Oh yeah, also having an equinox party on Saturday.

    Can’t wait for the race. Can’t see anyone beating Pietro Sagan right now.

  9. @Ron

    What a weekend! Gonna be around 20*C here tomorrow, cycling & swimming (for fun at the quarry, not as part of a try, you nuts!), then on Sunday…Milan Sanremo + corned beef & cabbage in the afternoon. Oh yeah, also having an equinox party on Saturday.

    Can’t wait for the race. Can’t see anyone beating Pietro Sagan right now.

    Please use the pre-approved terminology.  It is called a cycling shit sandwich.

    Also, I found Bike Snob’s quote about Sagan yesterday somewhat amusing:

    Look at it this way: Taylor Phinney may be young, but he’s not that young for a professional cyclist.  At 22, people still like to tout him as an up-and-comer, but keep in mind that Peter Sagan is only one year older than Phinney and he already got up and came, winning like twenty stages of the Tour de France last year.  Of course, there’s a reason for that, which is that Peter Sagan is on drugs.  He has to be.  In fact, I’ll bet even his drugs are on drugs.

    I’m happy to jump on Sagan’s bandwagon, but given his freakish abilities, let’s just say tha I wouldn’t be at all surprised in this prediction is correct.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Gilbert
    2. Nibbles
    3. Faboo
    4. Sagan
    5. Rickshaw

  10. @Deakus

    @Souleur

    I just cannot imagine anyone stopping Sagan right now…he really is that good

    Right up until Sky box him off and block him…swift dig in the ribs on the way up the Poggio and a sudden breaking manoevre on the descent should sort him out!

    thats the thing tho, he thrives on that stuff, he road around Griepel and Cavendish FTW in TA, the Sky train don’t seem quite so good this year, maybe missing the Brad Lieutenant.

  11. Fuck it! Pippo pips Sagan on the line. And no Faboo.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Pozzato
    2. Sagan
    3. Sylvain Chavanel
    4. Gilbert
    5. Nibali

  12. VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Chavanel, Sylvain
    3. Paolini
    4. Cancellara
    5. Thomas, G

  13. I’ll regret these picks and probably change them 10 more times. The weather forecast is looking like a Monument should be:

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Nibbles
    2. Sagan
    3. T Boo
    4. God of Thunder
    5. Chavanel

  14. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Edvald Boasson Hagen
    3. Mark Cavendish
    4. Fabian Cancellara
    5. Vincenzo Nibali

  15. @scaler911 Most hard men would revel in any race conditions though. I might follow your race analytics in the final VSP moments before the start — and then go with “fuck it!”

  16. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Moreno Moser
    3. Filippo Pozzato
    4. Daniele Bennati
    5. Hayden Roulston

  17. @unversio

    Some say he has a tattoo of a face on his face. And that the only thing he eats is synthetic motor oil. All we know is he’s called The Stig!

  18. VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Pozzato
    3. Spartacus
    4. Sylvain Chavanel
    5. Boom

  19. Wild-ass guesses, woot.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Cavendish
    3. Boonen
    4. Nibali
    5. Boasson Hagen

  20. Going with some longshots… no guts no glory.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chavanel
    2. Sagan
    3. Pozzato
    4. Van Avermaet
    5. Moser

  21. @mcsqueak

    Wild-ass guesses, woot.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Cavendish
    3. Boonen
    4. Nibali
    5. Boasson Hagen

    Boasson Hagan will pleasantly surprise you from time to time. I like that choice…..

    -Dinan

  22. Too many good riders, too many options; I think Andy Schleck has made a mistake missing this one ;-) an early solo attempt could have won it!

    in lieu of him, 5 wild guesses

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Faboo
    2. Thor
    3. Nibali
    4. Sagan
    5. Goss

  23. VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Nibali
    3. Cancellara
    4. G. Thomas
    5. Chavenel

  24. And I really wanted to include Geraint Thomas, who I think will be the leading Sky rider, he may just sneak top 5

  25. @Dinan

    Yeah, there are just so many factors that can affect race results it almost doesn’t matter who you pick, it’s the luck of the draw. Even the best rider can can snagged in a pileup or whatever.

    Last season I kept picking Tyler Farrar in long-odds hope of pulling some sweet points, but he never panned out.

     

  26. Having just read Thomas prerace interview he doesn’t sound confident so he’s out so its back to the rainbow stripes

    VSP PICKS:

    1. sagan
    2. Nibali
    3. Cancellara
    4. Boasson hagen
    5. Gilbert

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