Viewed here from the hills above, San Remo is the endpoint of the world’s longest professional one-day cycle race. Starting at Milan, competitors will have covered 298 kilometres by the time they reach their destination…
The course of the Milan-San Remo endurance bike race is largely flat, though the hills at the end have caught out many a competitor. Established in 1907, when it is was won by Frenchman Lucien Petit-Breton on his Peugeot, the gruelling 298 kilometre (almost 200 mile) race takes place relatively early in the competitive cycling season – usually at the end of March. The route was changed this year, adding the Pompeiana climb in an effort to make the race “more unpredictable”, according to its organisers. The race was dominated by Italians in the early 2000s, with four different winners in five years. Britain’s Mark Cavendish won it in 2009 and the 2014 event was won by Norway’s Alexander Kristoff. It is not, however, the sort of event you’d want to attempt on a mountain bike like the one pictured here.
