Pavia sits 30 kilometres south of Milan in the Po Valley. After the start, the riders head north for a short local lap, before turning south until they hit the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way, they tackle the Passo del Turchino, which is essentially a long, steady drag that gets a bit steeper towards the end. At the top, 532 metres above sea level, La Primavera is 139.3 kilometres underway.
The Turchino descent ends at the Mediterranean coast. The riders turn right and head towards the three ‘capi’: Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta. These climbs aren’t particularly tough, but they’re famous for signalling the start of the finale. After Capo Berta, there’s still just under 40 kilometres to go.
The tension builds as the riders reach San Lorenzo al Mare, the village at the foot of the Cipressa. The climb is 5.5 kilometres long, with an average gradient of 4.1%. The first casualties usually come from the sprinters on the steepest section, which hits 9% halfway up.
After the descent of the Cipressa, it’s about 8 kilometres to the foot of the Poggio. This climb is 3.7 kilometres at 3.7% with the steepest section, at 8%, just 1 kilometre from the top. Not exactly Stelvio-level stuff, but by that point, the tension is already sky-high.
In the last three editions, Tadej Pogacar tried everything to drop his rivals on the Poggio, but hasn’t managed to do so yet. Last year, he crested the climb alongside Mathieu van der Poel, and the pair were joined by Tom Pidcock in the early part of the descent. Later, Mads Pedersen, Matej Mohoric, Matteo Sobrero, Alberto Bettiol, Maxim Van Gils, Jasper Stuyven, Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Matthews, and Jasper Philipsen also made their way across.
The winner of 2023, Van der Poel, set himself up for Philipsen by neutralising attacks from Mohoric, Pidcock, and Sobrero in the streets of San Remo. Then it was a showdown between the sprinters. Philipsen thanked Van der Poel for his work by sprinting to the win, although it was close. Matthews finished just a few millimetres behind in second.
Fancy riding the route (or part of it) yourself? Download GPX Milan-San Remo 2025.
Milan-San Remo starts at 10:15, with the race expected to finish around 17:00 – both are local times (CET).
Milan-San Remo 2025: routes, profiles, videos
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