The first Monument of the 2025 season is here: Milan-San Remo gets underway on Saturday in Italy.
Cycling fans have been treated some stellar and suspenseful showdowns in the San Remo finale over the past few years, and the stage is set for another good one this year. Alpecin-Deceuninck is hoping to pull off the three-peat after Mathieu van der Poel won in 2023 and Jasper Philipsen won last year. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is hoping to finally flip the script and claim one of the few big races on the calendar he has yet to win. The rest of the peloton is hoping to crash the party.
For the first time in two decades, there will be a women's Milan-San Remo this year, and Matt de Neef has everything you need to know about that race in his preview. Here's everything you need to know about the men's race.
The favorites
We'll break down the contenders more thoroughly below, but as a sneak-peek, here are our top favorites for Saturday's race.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Mads Pedersen, Tom Pidcock, Filippo Ganna, Jasper Philipsen
⭐⭐⭐: Jonathan Milan, Michael Matthews, Biniam Girmay, Maxim Van Gils
⭐⭐: Isaac del Toro, Olav Kooij, Magnus Cort, Matej Mohorič, Laurence Pithie, Jhonatan Narváez
⭐: Jasper Stuyven, Julian Alaphilippe, Kaden Groves, Alberto Bettiol
How to watch
When: The men's Milan-San Remo starts on Saturday at 10:15 am local time (5:15 am EDT/8:15 pm AEDT). The race is set to finish at around 5:00 pm local time (12:00 pm EDT/3:00 am AEDT), and you can expect post-race analysis from How the Race was Won over on YouTube about an hour and a half after the race.
Streaming: TNT Sports (UK); Max (US); FloBikes (CAN); SBS (AUS).
As always, our how to watch guide has the details on the full WorldTour calendar.
The route
The percorso for the 2025 edition of Milan-San Remo is almost the same as last year's, with only very small changes in the first few kilometers of the race, which rolls out from Pavia, some 40 km south of Milan. As ever, riders will head south towards the coast, going over the Passo del Turchino as the first significant climb of the 289 km race near the midway point at 139.3 km.
After the descent to the Ligurian coast, it's mostly flat again for the next 80 km, until things start to heat up with the trio of small climbs known as the Tre Capi: the Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta. After another flat stretch comes the Cipressa, which could play a major role in defining the race. Although it is not the final climb, topping out just under 22 km from the finish, it has the tougher metrics of the two, with an average gradient of 4.1% over 5.6 km. The climbers will want to do as much as possible to pressure the heavier riders going up and over the ascent – more on that in a bit.
Following the high-speed descent off the Cipressa, there are 8 km or so of flat roads before the start of the final climb: the Poggio. At 3.7 % over 3.7 km, it's not the world's hardest climb, but the accumulated fatigue makes it a potential launchpad for attacks.
From the top of the climb, less than 6 km remain before the finish, and the majority of that distance is a very tricky descent sure to spur more action. Once things do at last flatten out, riders will make for the line on the Via Roma, which has hosted some iconic sprint finishes in years past ... but has often seen attackers foil the plans of the fast finishers in recent editions.
The forecast is a little unsettled, with a 70% chance of rain during the afternoon and locally heavy showers possible. Temps will be moderate, with a high of around 15° C/ 60° F. Winds will be out of the E/NE, and so likely not a factor, but local downpours or wet descents could be a factor.
The stars and the storylines
We go into Milan-San Remo with a few questions on our mind, starting with ...
Can Pogačar solve the puzzle?
The best rider in the world seems to win at will, but he has not yet conquered Milan-San Remo despite his best efforts. Tadej Pogačar is once again a favorite for San Remo this year, and that leaves us to wonder once again whether he can finally figure out how to win it. The key thing for Pogačar is finding a way to get off the front going over climbs that aren't really all that hard. What's more, Pogačar is a marked man, and thus really needs his rivals to be out of gas when he makes his inevitable attack.
In the past two editions, Alpecin-Deceuninck has proven to be an immovable obstacle for his typically unstoppable force. In 2023, Mathieu van der Poel countered after an initial Pogačar attack and soloed to victory. In 2024, Van der Poel followed Pogačar's move and then the race came back together, leaving Jasper Philipsen to sprint for the win. Van der Poel's tactics were critical to both wins, and he's back for Saturday's race as a top favorite again.
Regardless of whether the Poggio is the site of Pogačar's planned attack, the Cipressa could be the key to wearing away at his rivals. UAE Team Emirates-XRG already had that in mind last year, when director Joxean "Matxin" Fernández said that the goal was to climb the Cipressa in under nine minutes, but that plan did not really work out. They did not get up the Cipressa quite that quickly, and Pogačar's rivals were fresh enough to bring him to heel on the Poggio.
If they plan to try something similar again in 2025, UAE does have a few new faces in the squad – Jhonatan Narváez and Isaac del Toro are very strong cards to play – and perhaps that could make the difference. If not, getting clear will be difficult.
How will Philipsen's injuries impact Alpecin-Deceuninck's bid for the three-peat?
Coming off of back-to-back wins in the race, Alpecin-Deceuninck had every reason to come into this week feeling confident about hunting a third win. Instead, they will head into Saturday full of uncertainty after defending champion Jasper Philipsen crashed out of Nokere Koerse. He will still race San Remo, but his form is a question mark.
Regardless of Philipsen's status as defending champion, Mathieu van der Poel was probably still the more favored of the two even before the crash given his versatility, but Philipsen's presence near the front could make a big difference in the finale. If Mathieu van der Poel gets clear in a small group with Philipsen behind, he can afford to let others do the work in the break, knowing if it comes back together the Jasper card is back in play.
If Philipsen isn't at or close to the front over the Poggio, winning the race will be a taller order for Alpecin, but Van der Poel is one of the few riders in the world capable of matching Pogačar in the sort of effort required to get clear at the end of this race. He is a better bet for a reduced sprint too. In short: He can win even if Philipsen is not at his best. If Philipsen is there in the finale to add pressure to the field, this author likes really likes Alpecin's chances to pick up that third victory, even over the often unbeatable Pogačar.
Are we underestimating the 'other' top favorites?
All eyes will be on UAE and Alpecin on Saturday but we see three other teams with a real chance to challenge the favorites. Mads Pedersen, who was climbing like a man possessed at Paris-Nice last week, and a similarly in-form Jonathan Milan headline the Lidl-Trek squad. It's hard to see past the former in a reduced sprint or the latter in a big field sprint. 2021 winner Jasper Stuyven could also be in the mix going over the Poggio. As a team, Lidl-Trek has as much firepower as anyone in the race.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) rode to an impressive second place in 2023. The Italian also has a huge engine and will be a real danger to get clear either near the top of the Poggio or on the run-in to the line. Like Pedersen, he recently showed off some serious climbing chops, riding to second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico. He will also benefit from simply not being Pogačar or Van der Poel. If Ganna launches a solo bid for glory, his rivals could hesitate as they pay more attention to the bigger favorites.
The same could be said for Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), who more than most will need to get away on his own because sprinting is not really his thing. Fortunately, he can climb and descend extremely well. He has shown strong form riding with a new team for 2025 – a new team where he is the main attraction – and he should have free rein to go for it on the Poggio.
Who are the outsiders?
Ten years after his first Milan-San Remo podium, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) is still hunting for the elusive win. The 34-year-old Australian has had a relatively quiet first few months of 2025 but he has the experience and the skillset to be there in the finish.
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) is a former winner and perfectly suited for a solo bid in the finale. Perhaps he is sufficiently removed from his 2022 win at this point to sneak away from the field again. Given his skillset, another attack on the descent towards the finish line seems like his best bet.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Magnus Cort (Uno X-Mobility), and Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) are others to watch when things heat up on Saturday in Italy.
Did we do a good job with this story?
