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Norwegian cyclist Alexander Kristoff has outsprinted former champion Fabian Cancellara and Ben Swift to win a rain-lashed 105th edition of the Italian classic Milan-SanRemo race.
Kristoff, taking his first victory in one of cycling’s five ‘monument’ one-day races, benefited from the good work of team-mate Luca Paolini in a 20-up dash for the finish to leave Cancellara frustrated in second with Swift in third place.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish, the winner in 2009, was fifth while fellow pre-race favourite Peter Sagan of Slovakia was 10th, just behind defending champion Gerald Ciolek of Germany.
Although Kristoff’s win was a minor surprise given the presence of the likes of Cavendish, Cancellara and several other pre-race favourites in the final group, the Norwegian was quick to remind potential detractors: “I’ve already finished fourth at the Tour of Flanders and ninth at Paris-Roubaix.”
But the former Norwegian champion – who won Olympic road race bronze in London in 2012 – was quick to admit it was Paolini’s work that paved the way to his biggest win yet.
The Italian kept the Norwegian sheltered on his wheel from the 1.4 km mark and in the end his relative freshness paid off. After Cavendish’s brief sprint petered out quickly, Kristoff powered to the line to beat Cancellara by several bike lengths.
“It’s thanks to him that I won,” admitted Kristoff.
Paolini said: “We’d planned to keep Kristoff as fresh as possible for the finale and that I would try something in the final kilometres.
“I tried to attack on the Poggio (climb) but wasn’t successful. At the bottom of the descent I saw Alexander was in the front group and so I put everything on the line for him.”
It is the third time Cancellara, who last won the race in 2008, has finished runner-up in the race known as ‘La Primavera’ (Spring).
Swift, claiming the best classics result of his career, told teamsky.com: “It turned into a bit of a track race once we got into that final 3km. There were always guys willing to put moves in and then once it came to the sprint it was just about trying to pick the right wheel.
“It’s the one big race where I could see myself getting a result because normally that sort of terrain is where I’d have pretty good legs.
“So to go there and do that today was a really great feeling.”
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