Milano-Sanremo

Pedersen our first rider home in thrilling Milano-Sanremo

The first Monument of the year, Milano-Sanremo got underway from Pavia, and the rain that made an unwanted appearance at the start continued to accompany the riders for the first half of the race, leaving way to the clear sky and even some sun only after the Passo del Turchino, the climb where Fausto Coppi wrote history more than 70 decades ago.

The race exploded on the Cipressa, when a series of attacks blew the bunch apart and left just three riders at the front. On the fast descent, the trio managed to get their back to one minute, while behind the peloton – which included Casper Pedersen and Maximilian Schachmann – tried to organise a chase. They somehow managed to reduce the gap to 40 seconds by the bottom of the legendary Poggio, but the trio continued to press on and kept a hefty advantage over them as they continued their furious race to the Via Roma, where Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) triumphed.

Pedersen – who made his fourth “La Primavera” appearance – concluded the fifth-fastest Milano-Sanremo edition in history as the highest-ranked Soudal Quick-Step rider, some 40-odd seconds behind the winner and a couple of places ahead of teammate Max Schachmann, who came home with the same group.

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images