{"id":549207,"date":"2026-03-20T15:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549207\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T15:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:09:09","slug":"more-canadians-added-to-milano-sanremo-startlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549207\/","title":{"rendered":"More Canadians added to Milano-Sanremo startlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Monument of the year is almost here! La Primavera goes down on Saturday, and means that for us cycling fans, it\u2019s the true start of the Spring Classics.<\/p>\n

Milano-Sanremo is a loooong day in the saddle for the men: almost 300 km. It usually all comes down to the last climb, the Poggio. Or not at all.<\/p>\n

In 2026 there will again be a women\u2019s edition, formally known as Milano-Sanremo Donne. This is the second time MSR is taking place for women. (Kinda.)<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s MSR<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s race, it may very well come down again to Tadej Poga\u010dar and Mathieu van der Poel.<\/p>\n

For Poga\u010dar, victory in Milano-Sanremo (along with Paris-Roubaix) remains one of the few major prizes missing from his remarkable r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Unfortunately for him, just like Roubaix, there is van der Poel, who has repeatedly proven he thrives in MSR.<\/p>\n

The problem is, the course simply isn\u2019t hard enough for the current world champion, but he\u2019s tried multiple times to try and outsmart tradition. In 2025 the race exploded as Poga\u010dar tried his darndest to drop everyone on the Poggi. It almost worked\u2013only two riders managed to stay with him in the ultimate winning move.<\/p>\n

But according to very loud whispers in the peloton, this year the world champ is going to launch on the Cipressa.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite Pogi\u2019s repeated accelerations, van der Poel refused to crack\u2026although he came pretty darn close. \u201cI died a thousand deaths holding Poga\u010dar\u2019s wheel,\u201d the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider said after.
In 2025, almost at the crest of the Poggio, MvdP managed to launch a brutal counter-attack. In 2025, the final sprint was two riders could follow: van der Poel and Filippo Ganna. Poga\u010dar managed to get back on his wheel, but in the sprint on the Via Roma, the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider smoked his breakaway companions.<\/p>\n

Ineos\u2019s Filippo Ganna took second, with Pogi third. On Saturday, there\u2019s one Canuck racing in the men\u2019s race: Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9 of NSN Cycling Team.<\/p>\n

Sanremo Donne<\/p>\n

The second edition of the women\u2019s race starts in Genoa and finishes on Via Roma. The women will race 156 km\u2013although some argue it should be longer.<\/p>\n

They will, however, tackle the same finishing climbs, including the Cipressa and the Poggio di Sanremo. Although this is technically the second time it\u2019s been part of the Women\u2019s WorldTour, there have been just over half a dozen versions of it before.<\/p>\n

The race began in 1999 as the Primavera Rosa. It was part of the UCI Women\u2019s World Cup, but was cancelled in 2006. Last year it returned to the calendar. Three Canadian women will be there, Olivia Baril (Movistar Team), Sarah Van Dam (Team Visma \u2013 Lease a Bike), Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie).<\/p>\n

You can tune into the men\u2019s race at 4:50 a.m. EDT on Flobikes.com<\/a>. The women\u2019s coverage begins at 7:30 a.m. EDT. Afterwards, check back on Canadian Cycling Magazine for full reports on both.<\/p>\n

Affiliate links present. Canadian Cycling Magazine may receive commissions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first Monument of the year is almost here! La Primavera goes down on Saturday, and means that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[213682,213683,49,48,635,13633,50413,48387,82,1422,43201],"class_list":["post-549207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2025-milano-sanremo-donne","tag-2026-milano-sanremo","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-pier-andre-cote","tag-sarah-van-dam","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tom-pidcock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}