SANREMO – They were there too, beyond the top corner to which they were relegated by the organizing newspaper and the in-depth reports of the following days. La Milan-Sanremo of women was a useful experiment: we believe this is the first sip of a tasting that will give greater satisfaction in the future. What we have seen, in fact, is absolutely not enough..
Complicated logistics
It's not easy to fit two races into the narrow geometry of Sanremo, which welcomed the caravan on Saturday with a unique market in the bus parking area. Thus, the men remained behind the old station, while the women ended up at a sports center two kilometers after the finish line.
It's not easy either find pages and spaces for two races the day after a Classicissima monumental as that of Van der Poel, Ganna and PogacarNor is it easy to manage the traffic of accredited vehicles, which, following the organization's signs, found themselves faced with closed roads and rightly adamant traffic police. The first time requires tolerance, which we gladly grant.
Insufficient path
However, it can think about the race route, which unfortunately said very littleThe fundamental characteristic of the Milan-Sanremo is its length, which makes two climbs like Cipressa and Poggio selective. The mere 128 kilometers along the sea, from Genoa to the start of Cipressa, have been an inconsistent appetizer for athletes who, in terms of preparation and athletic means, have very little to envy their male colleagues.
The result was a bland race, with the climbers doing nothing on the way up and the only attack of the day with 2 kilometers to go by Elisa Longo BorghiniOnly one attack in a WorldTour classic, apart from an attempted attack on the Poggio: something didn't work. Lorraine Wiebes She said goodbye and collected the money with disarming ease.
Sanremo, which Sanremo?
Genoa, the 2024 capital of sport, has allocated the money to have the Sanremo Donne start and cutting the funds to the Giro del Ponente in Rosa, but the welcome was certainly not worthy of the WorldTour.
No team presentations on the eve of the match, as the event would have deserved and required. Little signage to draw the Genoese to the big eventThe same staff as RCS Sports It didn't seem oversized to handle the starting phases. To the point that we were told that to have athletes to talk to in the mixed starting area, we would have to ask the person in charge who was in Pavia to manage the same phase for the men.
The start from Novi Ligure
The Milan-Sanremo Women's cycling deserves better. And it also deserves a path consistent with that of men"I dream of seeing my granddaughters race on these roads," said Elisa Longo Borghini after the finish, "finally in a 200-kilometer race."
This time we make a proposal. The departure is established from Novi Ligure, in front of the Museum of Champions. This would result in a Sanremo of 198,5 kilometers: 100 kilometers less than the men's, exactly like the Tour of Flanders. It would be enough to make the Women's cycling's Sanremo the longest classic on the calendar, equal to the men's. The girls would climb the Turchino and experience that sense of spring's arrival that was missing on SaturdayAnd perhaps even Cipressa and Poggio would regain the dignity they unfortunately never had.
