German Gerald Ciolek (MTN) has won the Milan-San Remo in spectacular fashion and despite appalling weather. The 26-year-old – the youngest ever winner of the German National Championships back in 2005 – crossed the line in 5h 37’20″ at the head of a six-man sprint finish in freezing conditions that had seen the withdrawal of several key riders and a curtailing of the official 298km distance after snow had made the climb of La Manie impossible. Riders were transported to a new start point 130km from the finish with the six-man lead group allowed to restart with 7’10” advantage, although several riders – including Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), David Millar (Garmin) and Sky’s Geraint Thomas – abandoned at this point.
Ciolek beat Cannondale’s Peter Sagan – a firm race favourite – into second place and RadioShack’s Fabian Cancellara into third. Team Sky’s Ian Stannard, who looked in contention right up until the closing moments, was the highest placed British rider in sixth whilst Mark Cavendish for Omega Pharma-Quick Step took ninth place, 14seconds adrift of Ciolek. Despite Cav’s lack of overall form on the day, he was perhaps the most succinct in summing up the conditions with his tweet: ‘Fucking. Freezing.’
Commenting on his win rather than the weather, Ciolek said, ‘This is an unbelievable success for us and just an incredible day. We just came here as a wildcard and now we’re standing here with the trophy. This is great. I knew I had to follow all the best riders on the Poggio and it worked out perfectly.’ Team Principle, Douglas Ryder, added: ‘To win the first major classic ahead of Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara through these weather conditions is amazing… We were coming into the race hoping for a top 20 but every rider gave everything they could to help Gerald.’