Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage from La Classicissima Milan-San Remo. It’s the first Classic of the season what a feast of racing we have in store for you today. At 298km, it’s the longest race on the UCI calendar and is traditionally regarded as the true start of the Spring Classics. Here we go...
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10:43 GMT (244km remaining from 298km)
The gap between our three leaders and the peloton is now 21:35. Our man on the ground, Stephen Farrand, says it's raining but there's very little wind out on the roads. For those of you that don't know, Stephen joined the CN team in the winter transfer window. He lived in Italy for a long time and has been reporting on Milan-San Remo since the mid-90s.
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10:48 GMT
Not everyone thinks Cavendish is sand bagging.
"I'm liking Laura's pick of Breschel. Could win from a small to medium pack of riders. Cav = no chance! Has as much chance as Kenny van Hummell winning the Tour!" - Andy from Brisbane.
OUCH!
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10:56 GMT (222km remaining from 298km)
The gap is up to 22.35.
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11:02 GMT
Slightly off topic but today The Times published a list of the top 100 most powerful people in British sport. Dave Brailsford came in 14th place (down from 5th last year), while Bradley Wiggins was a new entry in 52nd place. No Mark Cavendish in the list, which I thought was a bit odd until I remembered who owned Sky and The Times.
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11:10 GMT (203km remaining from 298km)
The race has just gone through Novi Ligure, home of the Coppi museum.
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11:12 GMT
Earlier this morning we reminisced about the 2000 edition of the race. Let’s get all misty-eyed again.
That day neo-pro Michele Gobbi took off for 170K. Any ideas where he is now? Surely he’s following our live coverage, in which case we salute you and your Mobilbvetta kit, which I’m sure you still wear. He was, if memory serves me the European Under 23 champion the year before.