Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) snatched the victory in the fastest-ever edition of Milan-San Remo, outpacing Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) by the length of a mid-section tyre rim in a sprint finish among an elite lead group.
Behind the pair, who crossed the line having averaged 46.133kph over the 288km race, it was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) who swept through to beat Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) for third.
The quartet formed part of a 12-man move which detached from a reduced peloton of only 40 riders on the Poggio, with Pogačar leading the attacks over the famous final climb of the marathon race.
Further attacks flew in the final, with moves coming from new hopefuls and past winners alike, but it all came back together inside the final 300 metres, resulting in one last battle among the quickest finishers and the closest finish in recent memory.
"It's incredible. I cannot realise it. A Monument is something you dream of," Philipsen said after the finish on the Via Roma.
"Milan-San Remo is maybe one of the only Monuments I can win and I'm really proud. Also, what Mathieu did in the final was an incredible job and I'm really proud and happy that we could manage and play it out as a team.
"We break the records every year, it seems like. Last year was also one of the fastest editions so yeah, the speed is going faster and faster every year. I was feeling actually quite good, and I had a feeling today that it could be my day.
"I had really good legs from the start, and I was feeling good. I had the belief in it but of course, everything needs to fall in place. On the Poggio, the favourites looked at each other and I managed to come back, and Mathieu was there. He really did a big team job and I thank him a lot for what he did.
"I was a bit afraid that Mads was still really strong. I didn't expect Michael Matthews to be that good. I didn't have to do one sprint all day, but after 300km the sprint really feels strange and different, so I was happy I just had this final 5cm left to beat him."
Philipsen's charge to the line in the small group sprint finish rounded out a finale which brought a flurry of attacks from the Poggio to the finish line from all of the pre-race favourites.
The Slovenian and his UAE Team Emirates squad tried to smash the race on the way up, having pushed the pace from the three Capi climbs, before Pogačar and reigning champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) broke clear over the top.
Then, right at the end of the descent, 2022 winner Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) attempted to sneak away before Van der Poel led the chasers across on the flat run into San Remo.
Matteo Sobrero (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) were next to go, the Briton eventually pushing on well into the final kilometre before Lidl-Trek launched the sprint behind with Jasper Stuyven and Pedersen.
The Dane, self-admittedly in the form of his life, looked set to sprint to glory, but Philipsen and Matthews were leading the charge on the other side of the road. The pair were seemingly inseparable in the dash to the finish, but it was the Belgian who came out on top, prevailing to score his first Monument win by a tiny margin.
How it unfolded
A slightly shorter 115th edition of Milan-San Remo also brought with it a new start destination in Pavia, just outside of Milan. However, the famous route towards the Via Roma in San Remo remained largely unchanged, with the Passo del Turchino, the three Capi, the Cipressa, and the decisive Poggio all lining the route ahead of the finish line.
After kicking things off at 10 a.m. local time, it would take just under 20km of the 288km route for the breakaway of the day to form following a period of high-paced attacking led by Italian wildcard squads Polti-Kometa, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, and Corratec-Vini Fantini.
The teams would eventually contribute eight of the 11-rider move, with Bardiani's Alessandro Tonelli making the Milan-San Remo breakaway for the sixth edition in a row. He'd be joined by teammate Samuele Zoccorato, in the move for a second consecutive year, as well as four-time breakaway rider Mirco Maestri, Davide Bais, Andrea Pierobon (Polti-Kometa), Valerio Conti, Davide Baldaccini, Kyrylo Tsarenko (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Sergio Samitier (Movistar), Lorenzo Gemani (Groupama-FDJ), and Romain Combaud (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck were among the teams taking control at the front of the peloton, limiting the break's advantage to a mere 1:30 and prompting Germani to give up the ghost and drop back with a massive 250km still left to race.
The high pace set early did let up to some extent as the riders headed towards the 200km mark, though it still only hit a maximum of 2:50 at that point.
As ever at Milan-San Remo, the road to the Passo del Turchino passed without much incident, barring a few bike changes for Van der Poel and a minor crash involving Carlos Canal (Movistar) and Yuhi Todome (EF Education-EasyPost). On the way to the top, at almost the halfway point of the race, the break lay just over two minutes up on the peloton.
The group's advantage fell to 1:45 on the other side as the riders raced down into Genoa and the Ligurian coast, with Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck continuing to set the pace behind.
Aside from Bais suffering a puncture and making his way back to the break, there was little of note as the riders raced into the final 100km, with all eyes on the climbs that lay ahead and the inevitable upping of the pace and tension as the decisive part of the day neared.
Along the way, the break's advantage remained in the region of 2:30 as the riders closed in on the Capi climbs of the Mele, Cervo, and Berta. The run towards the trio of hills heralded a shakeup at the front of the peloton as several new teams – including Ineos Grenadiers, Bora-Hansgrohe, Jayco-AlUla, and Lotto-Dstny – moved up.
UAE Team Emirates also showed themselves for the first time on the Mele as Pogačar put his men to work when the road angled uphill. The break continued to battle on over the Cervo and Berta, however, holding a gap of 1:30 over the other side of the Capi despite losing Baldaccini on the last of them.
Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease A Bike) was the first big-name casualty of the day, dropping from the rear of the peloton on the Berta along with former race winner Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility).
The Cipressa and Poggio
The nine men out front kept on going to the Cipressa, hanging on to 43 seconds as they hit the 5.6km, 4.1% hill while Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Ineos Grenadiers – among others – rotated at the front of the peloton.
Tsarenko was next to drop from the break, while back in the peloton Alessandro Covi hit the front to push the pace with Pogačar in his wheel. Out front, the break shredded further as Isaac Del Toro became the next UAE man to put on the pressure.
Behind them, the familiar favourites – Pedersen, Ganna, Van der Poel, Alberto Bettiol, and Michael Matthews included – remained in prime position, though the peloton was fracturing into pieces further back.
At 2km from the top, Wellens took over from Del Toro, with Pogačar signalling for the Belgian to keep pushing towards the top after a short slowing in the pace. Over the top, only around 40 men remained in the peloton, hanging just a handful of seconds behind the breakaway survivors.
Those survivors didn't last much longer out front, though, with Samitier running wide on a corner partway down the descent, in turn holding up the group just as the peloton came back. But Bais was determined to keep going and countered as the riders hit the flat final 17km.
The Italian toughed it out on the run to the Poggio, but his time in the lead was drawn to a close just before the race hit the day's final climb as Lidl-Trek led the way in the much-reduced peloton.
Two riders from the Swiss team Tudor hit the front at the base of the hill while at the rear groups of riders fell away. Ineos Grenadiers, and then a second act from Wellens, took up the pacemaking shortly afterwards as the pace flew up.
Pogačar finally made his move 6.5km from the line and a kilometre from the top of the Poggio, blasting off with Van der Poel, Bettiol, and Ganna in his wheel. The Slovenian couldn't get clear but would try again in the final metres of the climb, once again with Van der Poel following.
The paid led the way down the fast, technical descent into San Remo, with Ganna and then Pidcock chasing just a few seconds back. The Briton led the select chase group across with names including Pedersen, Mohorič, and Julian Alaphilippe also in there.
At the base of the descent, Mohorič made a break for it, grabbing a few seconds as the leaders raced into the final 2km with Van der Poel once again leading behind. A regrouping 500 metres later brought a counter by Matteo Sobrero (Bora-Hansgrohe) and then Pidcock.
It was the Briton who looked the stronger of the pair, pushing on past Sobrero into the final kilometre and maintaining a small gap as the sprinters prepared to launch behind.
Briefly, it looked as though the multi-disciplinarian might pull off his first Monument victory, but Lidl-Trek had other ideas, with Stuyven launching Pedersen towards the line.
The Dane didn't have the power to reach the line first, however, as Philipsen and Matthews sped by on the other side of the road, with the Belgian edging out the Australian by the narrowest of margins to make it two triumphs in two years for his Alpecin-Deceuninck team.
Behind Matthews, who can now count three career podiums at this race, Pogačar sped through to claim third ahead of Pedersen and Bettiol as the reigning champion Van der Poel rounded out the top 10.
Results
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