Milan-San Remo 2015 will conclude in Via Roma, for the first time since 2007, after organisers confirmed the route for next year’s La Primavera
Scene of all seven of Eddy Merckx’s San Remo triumphs, the race returns to its traditional finish having concluded in Piazzale Italo Calvino for the last seven years.
Next year’s race will finish just two kilometres from the base of the Poggio, with a few slight adjustments to the course on which Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was triumphant this year.
The key passages of the Passo del Turchino, Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, Capo Berta, Cipressa and Poggio remain, but organisers hope the modified finale will make for an unpredictable finale to the season’s first – and longest – Monument.
It also means the Pompeiana, which was originally installed for this year’s race before being removed on safety grounds, does not feature.
The move means the total distance of the race drops from 294km to 293km, with RCS Sport hoping riders will seize an opportunity for late attacks off the iconic descent of the Poggio.
Milan-San Remo’s famous 3.7km ascent – with an average gradient of 3.7 per cent – arrives just short of the 284km mark, with the Cipressa (5.65km at 4.1 per cent) peaking some 12km earlier.
Oscar Freire was victorious the last time the race finished in Via Roma, while Tom Simpson won there in 1964.
Mark Cavendish’s 2009 victory, however, occurred in Piazzale Italo Calvino.
