Date: Saturday March 21, 2026
Start: Genova (women) and Pavia (men)
Finish: Sanremo
Total distance: 156km (women) and 289km (men)
Defending champion: Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Milan-Sanremo is the first Monument of the cycling season and this year will see the men’s peloton take on the 116th edition of the race starting in Pavia, a city just south of Milan, before travelling 289km to Sanremo in north west Italy. 2026 also marks the second edition of the women’s Milan-Sanremo. There was a women’s race called Primavera Rosa, which was held alongside the men's race from 1999 to 2005.
Milan-Sanremo is commonly known as ‘La Classicissima’ or ‘La Primavera’ and is the longest one-day race in the professional racing calendar. It’s long, but mainly flat parcours that breeds an intense build-up before a massive crescendo in the final 30 kilometres.
Cycling’s Monuments are prestigious and historic one-day races with Milan-Sanremo being the first, followed by the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia. Now that Milan-Sanremo has been introduced to the women’s professional calendar, Il Lombardia is the only Monument on the men’s WordTour that doesn’t have a women’s race.
With 116 editions, Milan-Sanremo is one of the oldest races in the men’s calendar. The all-time leader for wins at La Primavera is Eddy Merckx (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976). Despite the Belgian's obvious dominance, Milan-Sanremo has often been described as the easiest Monument to finish, but the hardest to win.
Last year, the inaugural women's race ended in a bunch sprint won by Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime), finishing comfortably ahead of Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly). In the men's Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) took his second Primavera win after a ferocious 30km battle with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who hasn't be shy about his ambition to win the race that still eludes his illustrious palmarès.
Both the reigning champions, Wiebes and Van der Poel are likely to return to defend their crowns in 2026.
Teams list for women’s Milan-Sanremo 2026:
- Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto
- Cofidis Women Team
- EF Education-Oatly
- Human Powered Health
- Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi
- Lidl-Trek
- Movistar Team
- Team SD Worx-Protime
- Uno-X Mobility
- Visma-Lease a Bike
Demi Vollering leading over the Poggio at the 2025 Milan Sanremo (Image: Tornanti.cc)
Teams list for men’s Milan-Sanremo 2025:
- Alpecin-Premier Tech
- Bahrain-Victorious
- Cofidis
- Decathlon CMA CGM Team
- EF Education-EasyPost
- Groupama-FDJ United
- Ineos Grenadiers
- Lidl-Trek
- Lotto Intermarché
- Movistar Team
- NSN Cycling Team
- Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
- Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
- Soudal Quick-Step
- Team Jayco AlUla
- Team Picnic PostNL
- Visma-Lease a Bike
- Tudor Pro Cycling Team
- UAE Team Emirates-XRG
- Uno-X Mobility
- XDS Astana Team
Milan-Sanremo route 2026:
Like in 2025, this year’s men’s edition of the race will begin in the city Pavia, just south of Milan. However, instead of heading out east from the start town it will head south and wind its way to Tortona. The majority of the race’s route is flat, minus the Passo del Turchino climb, as it heads south towards the coastline, where it then heads west following the Statale Aurelia through Varazze, Savona, Albenga and Imperia.
The women’s race route, which starts in Genova, joins the men’s course in Voltri and follows it all the way to the finish on the Via Roma in Sanremo. Along the way the riders have to negotiate two key climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio.
The Cipressa is the penultimate climb and is 5.6km in length with a 4.1% average gradient and tops out at 21.5km to the finish. This is the first point where riders will be put into real trouble with the sprinters often spat out the back of the peloton on the harshest inclines.
After the tension has built, the riders reach the foot of the Poggio – a climb described as ‘the most important six minutes in cycling’. The Poggio has been the arena for decisive moves in the previous six editions with the strongest riders able to pull away on the steepest sections which max out at 8% in gradient. The challenging climb gives a punchy rider the chance to get away, like Mathieu van der Poel did in 2023. Likewise, if a rider is daring - and skillful enough - they can attack on the descent, like Matej Mohorič did the year before.
The final few flat kilometres in Via Roma are chaotic with riders fully on their limit after (in the case of the men’s race) completing almost 300km, and if the peloton arrives into Sanremo together, the wide roads give an opportunity for those without a great sprint to make their launch for glory, as Jasper Stuyven did in 2021. However, the bunch can come back together before the finish allowing a sprinter to take the honours, like last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen.
