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Milan-San Remo 2014: five observations

Fabian Cancellara misses out again but is Team Sky's Ben Swift on the rise?

While Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was celebrating a famous triumph, just behind him there was a much more telling sight – Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) pounding his handlebars in frustration after once again missing out on top spot. Cancellara won Milan-San Remo in 2008 but it has been frustration since then for Spartacus. In the last four years he has finished second three times and third last year. Four podium places but none on the top spot.

A dejected Spartacus contemplates another second place on the Milan-San Remo podium (pic: Sirotti)

His 2008 victory came from a late, solo attack but it his lack of an out-and-out sprint that has been his undoing in recent years. Having been unable to break clear on the Poggio, Cancellara gambled all on the sprint finish but it did not pay off. He comfortably beat the likes of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), but Kristoff now joins Matthew Goss, Simon Gerrans and Gerald Ciolek in having outsprinted Spartacus at the line. Anyone with a decent sprint now knows, if they can stick with Spartacus on the descent of the Poggio then they are in with a chance of victory.

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