A late surge on the counter attack with 350 metres to go from Filippo Pozzato was audacious but perfectly timed. Milram had no chance anyway as the Quick Step team were ready to pounce should Pozzato be recaptured. It was great team work from Quick Step who read the finish superbly and all Petacchi (last year’s winner) could do was bury his head in his hands.

Pozzato had been in a break of four that had escaped on the Poggio, initially he was marking the move for the Quick Step sprinters, perhaps for Tom Boonen, or a rejuvinated Paolo Bettini. However in the chase Milram fell apart and left Zabel and Petacchi isolated, this just played into Quick Step’s hands and with a man down the road all they had to do was sit and wait. A great finish to a great race and nice to see a breakaway work for once. Also great to see Tom Boonen’s (and Bettini’s) delight for their team mate, who would normally be doing the team job for them, the 24 year old will clearly be going on to greater things.

Roger Hammond and Bradley Wiggins both had a quiet days, but they got some serious training miles in, as the 294 kilometre race averaged an incredible 45km/h+.

Milan-San Remo Results – 294 km

1. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick Step-Innergetic 6.29.41 (45.27 km/h)
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram
3. Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas
4. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Innergetic
5. Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
6. Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
7. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas
8. Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
9. Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
10. Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
28. Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
46. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis, le Credit par Telephone