Aussies part of Milan-San Remo race's rich history

IT TOOK 104 years for an Australian to win Milan-San Remo but for the past two years the nation has made the Italian classic its own.

Simon Gerrans

IT TOOK 104 years for an Australian to win Milan-San Remo but for the past two years the nation has made the Italian classic its own.

Tasmanian sprinter Matt Goss won a bunch sprint in 2011 and Victorian all-rounder Simon Gerrans rode away from a select group in the tense final kilometres last year.

Both had to beat Swiss superstar Fabian Cancellara who finished second on both occasions and promises to be at the business end of the race again this weekend.

At 298km, Milan-San Remo is the longest race on the calendar.

It is, according to former professional Patrick Jonker, the easiest classic to complete, but the hardest to win.

"It's easy in a sense that it's not like Paris-Roubaix when you feel like you've been battered by a hammer, but it's extremely difficult to win," he said.

"Because after 280km of racing, you think you're feeling OK then you go on the attack and there's nothing in your legs - it's like they're made of jelly.

"And if it's a sprint after the Poggio or Cipressa (climbs), there's a whole different dynamic needed to win."

Jonker rode Milan-San Remo three times and never finished in the top 50 because he was working for his team's sprinter.

He said it was "amazing" that Australians were now part of the race's rich history.

"It's an extremely prestigious European classic," he said.

"When I was racing it there was never a chance of an Australian winning it - now we've won the past two."

Rain and a maximum temperature of just 8C is predicted for San Remo tonight (SA time) which promises to ensure the peloton is in for a long day.

Slovak Peter Sagan will start favourite for the season-opening monument after two devastating victories during Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy last week.

Sagan won a bunch sprint on Stage 3 then conquered climbs as steep as with a 27 per cent gradient in the lashing rain to win Stage 6.