Race organizer RCS Sport revealed the route for the revived Milan-San Remo Women on Wednesday, confirming that both the Cipressa and Poggio will feature in the finale. The event, set for Saturday, March 22, will start in Genoa and cover 156 km along the Ligurian coast before finishing on the Via Roma in San Remo. The final 60 km follow the classic approach to San Remo.
Taking place on the same day as the men’s edition, the women’s race will begin at 10:35 CET and is expected to conclude around 14:30, with two hours of live television coverage promised by race organizers.
Riders will tackle the Tre Capi climbs – Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta –before facing the Cipressa (5.6 km at 4.1%) and Poggio di Sanremo (3.7 km at 3.7%). The Poggio should set up an explosive finale before a twisting, technical descent leads the peloton into the final straight on the Via Roma.
The revival of Milan-San Remo Women marks the first time in two decades that a women’s race will finish in San Remo. The last edition of Primavera Rosa, in 2005, saw Trixi Worrack outsprint her rivals to claim victory. Six editions of that race took place from 1999 to 2005.
The announcement follows RCS Sport’s ongoing efforts to expand women’s racing, including their takeover of the Giro d’Italia Donne, and follows trends across the cycling landscape to expand the women's calendar into more of cycling's oldest events. “We are proud to restore this prestigious event, offering the best female athletes a course worthy of its history,” said Mauro Vegni, RCS Sport’s director of cycling.
Is it long enough?
That's the big question, right? Though it might not be the right question. At least not this year.
There's no rule that says a women's race needs to follow the same script as its men's equivalent (thank goodness), but the men's Milan-San Remo is notable primarily for its length, and the new women's version is not. The 289 km length, which leads to more than six hours in the saddle, is key to making the men's finale work. The climbs are not considered difficult enough, on their own, to split a fresh peloton. This careful balance between sprinters and breakaway artists, which teeters atop a mountain of fatigue, is San Remo's finest attribute.
The women's Milan-San Remo is not long. It doesn't even start in Milan, actually. Genoa-San Remo? The Trofeo Alfredo Binda, which has moved back one weekend with the addition of San Remo to the women's calendar, is only four kilometers shorter, with significantly more climbing. The Tour of Flanders is longer, at 163 km. Three stages of this year's Tour de France Femmes are also longer – stages 3, 6, and 7 are all over 160 km. A carbon copy of the men's race, this is not.
Some riders believe it should be longer. Annemiek van Vleuten, now retired of course, has advocated for a true equivalent to the men’s race, arguing that women should be allowed to race 200 km or more. The UCI has set 160 km as the maximum length for Women's WorldTour races, but as Flanders and the TdFF show, it's a rule that the UCI already allows some races to break.
That question — is it long enough? — assumes we want a women's Milan-San Remo to play out as the men's race does. We want this because we love how the men's race unfolds, very slowly, then all at once, with the winner, or even what type of rider might win, almost always unclear until the very last moments.
With the return of the women's San Remo, we have a race that hasn't existed since 2005, and even that edition was on a slightly different course; there is little historical context upon which to lean. While it feels like a likely sprint, or at least a small group sprint, we can't truly predict whether the Poggio will be hard enough after 156 km because this peloton has never done it. Tadej Pogačar has the Strava KOM at 5:31; is a climb that long enough to split the women's peloton? Would a Cipressa move work in the right context? We do not know, really, how this race will be won.
What we love about Milan-San Remo are those moments in the unknown, as a peloton chases and breakaways escape and the outcome of the race hangs in the balance. The not knowing is the whole point of San Remo. This year, at least, we know nothing. Enjoy it.
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