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It's that time of year again. Spring is blossoming, 'La Primavera' is near. The 113th edition of Milano-Sanremo is the first Monument to be conquered by a hungry group of riders. 166 riders will leave the start in the historic Milanese velodrome Maspes-Vigorelli full of hope to win the race, but only one will be waving to the public at the end of a -hopefully fantastic- race along Italy's floral riviera.

The route

After the new start venue, the riders will follow the traditional route -including the Turchino, the Capi (Mele-Cervo-Berta), the Cipressa and the Poggio di Sanremo- before the racing to the finish at the Via Roma. The 2022 will have a length of 293 kilometer. Which is quite a distance for a bike race these days, but it is not nearly the longest edition in the history of the race.

Table 1. Longest editions of Milano-Sanremo

Table 2. Climbs during the 113th Milano-Sanremo

victory

Winning 'La Primavera' is quite an achievement. For some, it's the biggest win in their career, for others it's the first step to a big cycling career. Four winners out of the last eight years will be at the start of the 2022 edition.

Table 3. Last winners

Naturally, there can be only one name that pops up when you ask about the most wins in the first Monument of the year. Belgian legend Eddy Merckx has an impressive seven wins, closely followed by Italian legend Costante Girardengo with six wins.

Table 4. Most wins

As for the countries, it will be no surprise that Italy has won the most editions of Milano-Sanremo. Out of 112 editions, the Azzurri won 51. Belgium is next on the list with 22 victories, followed by France with 14.

Table 5. Most wins in race history by nation

There are only eight riders who can say that they have won 'La Classisima' two years in a row. Germany's Erik Zabels winning streak of four wins -and second once- in five years time was extra impressive.

Table 6. Back-to-back wins in Milano - Sanremo

Monumental accomplishment

In the current peloton there are a number of riders that have been victorious in one of the five Monuments. The Monuments are: Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia.

Table 7. Current riders that won a monument

When winning this year's edition of Milano - Sanremo, Philippe Gilbert will not only be the oldest rider ever winning 'La Classisima' (see below), the Belgian rider will also be the next -still active- rider who is able to win all five Monuments during his career!

Table 8. Winners of al 5 monuments

Age is a number

With his victory in 1999 multi nationality rider Andrei Tchmil won the race for Belgium at the age of 36 years and 57 days. The rider with multiple nationalities -racing for Belgium at the time- was a mere 16 days older than Dutchman Hennie Kuiper with his victory in 1984.

Table 9. Oldest winners Milano-Sanremo

Looking at the startlist of this years event, there are three riders that can become the oldest winner of Milano-Sanremo. Two of them could even be branded as 'dark horses' for the victory!

Table 10. Oldest competitors on the startlist

The youngest winner of Milano-Sanremo made his name in the early years of the race. Italy's Ugo Agostoni was a staggering 20 years and 525 days old, when he won the 1914 edition. That is even 23 days younger than 'The Cannibal' himself.

Table 11. Youngest winners Milano-Sanremo

On the startlist of the 2022 edition, there is no rider younder than Agostino, so he will be recordholder for at least another year.

Table 12. Youngest competitors on the startlist

Looking at the age of the Top 10 finishers, there is quite a remarkable statistic to be found. The average age of the Top 10 finishers of the longest Monument on the calendar is 28.2 years. This is -by far- the lowest of all five Monuments.

Table 13. average age of top 10 finishers

Startlist quality

There are a lot of top riders who have decided not to be present at the start in Milano. How did this affect the quality of the startlist?

Figure 1. Startlist quality breakdown

Looking at the power each team brings to the start of the race, it's clear to see that Jumbo-Visma is bringing out some of the big guns in the team. With the likes of Slovenia's Primož Roglič and Belgiums Wout Van Aert, there are a number of horses to bet on. But also UAE Team Emirates -bringing Tour de France-winner and man-of-the-moment- Tadej Pogačar will be charged to race to victory.

Table 14. Startlist quality