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Milan-San Remo shy a few celebrants for its centenary
Some of cycling’s brightest stars will be absent or battling injury on Saturday as Milan-San Remo celebrates its centenary.
While defending champion Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) will be on hand, absent from the 2007 edition of “La Primavera” will be last year's Giro d’Italia winner, Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel), and former ProTour series winner Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas).
Basso, 29, has struggled to recover from spraining a wrist at Tirreno-Adriatico last Friday, while Di Luca is still experiencing the after-effects of flu.
Meanwhile, world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) is questionable after he announced that he had broken a rib during a nasty fall at Tirreno-Adriatico, and teammate Tom Boonen is suffering with a bad back.
It will be a long day in the saddle for anyone who’s not up to snuff. At 294km, Milan-San Remo is the longest one-day race of the season.
| The 2007 Milan-San Remo The course 294km. Highlights include the Passage au Turchino (km 143, 532m); Capo Mele (km 242, 65m), Capo Cervo (km 247, 77m), Capo Berta (km 254, 130m), Cipressa (km 272, 240m) and Poggio (km 288.3, 162m). The favorites Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank; Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas; Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre-Fondital; Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole; Alessandro Petacchi (I), Milram; Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre-Fondital; Riccardo Ricco (I), Saunier Duval-Prodir; Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC; Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto Notable absentees Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne; Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana; Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas; George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel; Ivan Basso (I), Discovery Channel Victories by nation Italy (50); Belgium (20); France (12); Germany (5); Spain (3); Netherlands (3); Ireland (2); Switzerland (1); Great Britain (1) Record number of wins Eddy Merckx (B), seven, 1966-76 Recent winners 1997: Erik Zabel (G) 1998: Erik Zabel (G) 1999: Andrei Tchmil (B) 2000: Erik Zabel (G) 2001: Erik Zabel (G) 2002: Mario Cipollini (I) 2003: Paolo Bettini (I) 2004: Oscar Freire (Sp) 2005: Alessandro Petacchi (I) 2006: 1. Filippo Pozzato (I) |
Still, the Milan-San Remo is a relatively easy ride. The first climb of the day is the Passo del Turchino, when the riders climb 24km up the 532-meter summit before a relatively flat ride until the Capi, a 30km succession of small hills 50km from the finish line. The most famous and decisive of these is the Cipressa, the penultimate climb of the race.
Often known as the sprinter's classic, victory will be well within the reach of sprint specialists Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), who won in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
“La Primavera” has enjoyed a colorful and exciting history. Considered the most prestigious victory among Italian sprinters, it was a Frenchman – Lucien Petit Breton – who won the first edition in 1907. In fact, only three Italians won in the race’s first nine years. After the race was not held in 1916, Italians ruled the San Remo roost, winning every edition except one until World War II.
In 1946, Fausto Coppi won the first of his three San Remo victories in the post-war years. From 1954 to 1981, Belgians won Milan-San Remo 16 times, including a record seven wins by Eddy Merckx.
Organizers added the Poggio climb in 1960 in the closing kilometers to try to break up the peloton before coming on to the Via Roma finishing straight. Another hill at Cipressa near Imperia was added in 1982, but the race has been dominated by mass sprints the past several years. Last year’s winner, Filippo Pozzato, held out as part of an early break to spoil the sprinters.
Erik Zabel won four editions in five years from 1997 to 2001 while Italians have won the past four of five editions.
Start list for the 100th Anniversary Milan-San Remo
Liquigas
1. Filippo Pozzato (I)
2. Patrick Calcagni (Swi)
3. Enrico Gasparotto (I)
4. Luca Paolini (I)
5. Franco Pellizotti (I)
6. Roberto Petito (I)
7. Manuel Quinziato (I)
8. Alessandro Spezialetti (I)
Acqua & Sapone - Caffe' Mokambo
11. Dario Andriotto (I)
12. Gabriele Balducci (I)
13. Massimo Codol (I)
14. Alessandro Donati (I)
15. Stefano Garzelli (I)
16. Andrei Kunitski (Blr)
17. Simone Masciarelli (I)
18. Giuseppe Palumbo (I)
Ag2r Prevoyance
21. Rinaldo Nocentini (I)
22. Sylvain Calzati (F)
23. Renaud Dion (F)
24. Samuel Dumoulin (F)
25. Martin Elmiger (Swi)
26. Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr)
27. Lloyd Mondory (F)
28. Jean-Patrick Nazon (F)
Astana
31. Koen De Kort (Nl)
32. René Haselbacher (A)
33. Serguei Ivanov (Rus)
34. Aaron Kemps (Aus)
35. Matthias Kessler (G)
36. Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus)
37. Dmitriy Muravyev (Kz)
38. Grégory Rast (Swi)
Barloworld
41. Giosuè Bonomi (I)
42. Diego Caccia (I)
43. Enrico Degano (I)
44. Alexander Efimkin (Rus)
45. Fabrizio Guidi (I)
46. Robert Hunter (RSA)
47. Paolo Longo Borghini (I)
48. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr)
Bouygues Telecom
51. Xavier Florencio Cabre (Sp)
52. Anthony Geslin (F)
53. Rony Martias (F)
54. Alexandre Pichot (F)
55. Jérome Pineau (F)
56. Erki Pütsep (Est)
57. Franck Renier (F)
58. Thomas Voeckler (F)
Caisse d'Epargne
61. Vicente Reynes Mimo (Sp)
62. Eric Berthou (F)
63. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus)
64. Imanol Erviti (Sp)
65. José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Sp)
66. Pablo Lastras Garcia (Sp)
67. Alexei Markov (Rus)
68. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Sp)
Ceramica Panaria - Navigare
71. Fortunato Baliani (I)
72. Tiziano Dall'antonia (I)
73. Paride Grillo (I)
74. Luca Mazzanti (I)
75. Matteo Priamo (I)
76. Francesco Tomei (I)
77. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg)
78. Emanuele Sella (I)
Cofidis
81. Kevin De Weert (B)
82. Michiel Elijzen (Nl)
83. Mathieu Heijboer (Nl)
84. Geoffroy Lequatre (F)
85. Sébastien Minard (F)
86. Cristian Moreni (I)
87. Nick Nuyens (B)
88. Staf Scheirlinckx (B)
Crédit Agricole
91. Francesco Bellotti (I)
92. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun)
93. William Bonnet (F)
94. Julian Dean (NZ)
95. Mads Kaggestad (N)
96. Sébastien Hinault (F)
97. Thor Hushovd (N)
98. Christophe Laurent (F)
Discovery Channel
101. Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr)
102. Steven Cummings (GB)
103. Allan Davis (Aus)
104. Vladimir Gusev (Rus)
105. Pavel Padrnos (Cz)
106. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)
107. Tomas Vaitkus (Lit)
108. Matthew White (Aus)
Euskaltel - Euskadi
111. Benat Albizuri Aransolo (Sp)
112. Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Sp)
113. Yon Bru Pascal (Sp)
114. Unai Etxebarria Arana (Vz)
115. Koldo Fernandez (Sp)
116. Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez (Sp)
117. Aketza Pena Iza (Sp)
118. Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Sp)
Française Des Jeux
121. Ludovic Auger (F)
122. Christophe Detilloux (B)
123. Arnaud Gerard (F)
124. Philippe Gilbert (B)
125. Frédéric Guesdon (F)
126. Thierry Marichal (B)
127. Christophe Mengin (F)
128. Cyrille Monnerais (F)
Gerolsteiner
131. Heinrich Haussler (G)
132. David Kopp (G)
133. Andrea Moletta (I)
134. Davide Rebellin (I)
135. Stefan Schumacher (G)
136. Fabian Wegmann (G)
137. Peter Wrolich (A)
138. Marcus Zberg (Swi)
Lampre
141. Alessandro Ballan (I)
142. Daniele Bennati (I)
143. Danilo Napol (I),no (I)
144. Fabio Baldato (I)
145. Claudio Corioni (I)
146. Daniele Righi (I)
147. Gorazd Stangelj (Slo)
148. Francisco J. Vila Errandonea (Sp)
Predictor-Lotto
151. Mario Aerts (B)
152. Leif Hoste (B)
153. Robbie Mcewen (Aus)
154. Fred Rodriguez (USA)
155. Wim Vansevenant (B)
156. Johan Van Summeren (B)
157. Stefano Zanini (I)
158. Dario David Cioni (I)
Quick Step-Innergetic
161. Paolo Bettini (I)
162. Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Sp)
163. Tom Boonen (B)
164. Kevin Hulsmans (B)
165. Sébastien Rosseler (B)
166. Matteo Tosatto (I)
167. Kevin Van Impe (B)
168. Giovanni Visconti (I)
Rabobank
171. Jan Boven (Nl)
172. Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Sp)
173. Oscar Freire Gomez (Sp)
174. Bram De Groot (Nl)
175. Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Sp)
176. Mathew Hayman (Aus)
177. Leon Van Bon (Nl)
178. Max Van Heeswijk (Nl)
Saunier Duval-Prodir
181. David Millar (GB)
182. Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat)
183. Jesus Del Nero (Sp)
184. Angel Gomez Gomez (Sp)
185. Jose Alberto Benitez Roman (Sp)
186. Manuele Mori (I)
187. Riccardo Ricco' (I)
188. Francisco J. Ventoso Alberdi (Sp)
CSC
191. Frank Schleck (Lux)
192. Karsten Kroon (Nl)
193. Fabian Cancellara (Swi)
194. Marcus Ljungqvist (S)
195. Juan José Haedo (Arg)
196. Stuart O'grady (Aus)
197. Luke Roberts (Aus)
198. Matti Breschel (Dk)
L.P.R.
201. Borut Bozichz (Slo)
202. Marco Marcato (I)
203. José E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Sp)
204. Ignacio Gutierrez Cataluna (Sp)
205. Luca Solari (I)
206. Maurizio Bellin (I)
207. Roberto Traficante (I)
208. Andreas Dietziker (Swi)
Milram
211. Alessandro Petacchi (I)
212. Erik Zabel (G)
213. Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (Sp)
214. Mirko Celestino (I)
215. Christian Knees (G)
216. Alberto Ongarato (I)
217. Fabio Sacchi (I)
218. Marco Velo (I)
Tinkoff Credit Systems
221. Elio Aggiano (I)
222. Pavel Brutt (Rus)
223. Salvatore Commesso (I)
224. Vasil Kiryienka (Blr)
225. Daniele Contrini (I)
226. Anton Mindlin (Rus)
227. Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus)
228. Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (Sp)
T-Mobile
231. Lorenzo Bernucci (I)
232. Gerald Ciolek (G)
233. Bernhard Eisel (A)
234. Bert Grabsch (G)
235. Roger Hammond (GB)
236. Kim Kirchen (Lux)
237. Andreas Klier (G)
238. Jakob Piil (Dk)
Unibet.com
241. Baden Cooke (Aus)
242. Arnaud Coyot (F)
243. Jimmy Casper (F)
244. Laurens Ten Dam (Nl)
245. Gorik Gardeyn (B)
246. Matteo Carrara (I)
247. Marco Zanotti (I)
248. Jeremy Hunt (GB)
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