Landfall puts Milano-Sanremo course at risk - However, Italian monument should still go ahead with original route

Reports in Italy over the weekend suggested a landslide near Arenzano could have forced a route tweak for the upcoming Milano–Sanremo. In the Ligurian coast, this is not too unusual, however the situation seems to remain stable with month and a half left to go.

Arenzano is a routine waypoint on the Milano–Sanremo route with roughly 130 kilometres to go, just after the peloton drops off the Passo del Turchino and hits the Ligurian coast en route to the famous capi that usher in the decisive phase.

According to local outlet GenovaToday, the landslide occurred on Sunday night, when around 2,000 cubic metres of debris fell onto the Via Aurelia, completely blocking the road. Fortunately, there were no injuries.

The exact cause remains unclear, though initial reports point to a possible failure of a rockfall protection system. The incident took place near the Pizzo tunnel, very close to the site of a similar episode in 2016.

Arenzano’s mayor, Francesco Silvestrini, said it would take four to five days to clear the debris and reopen the road to one-lane traffic, though he did not rule out a longer closure.

“Afterwards we’ll need to understand how much work the slope requires and of what kind,” Silvestrini noted. “The fear is a repeat of 2016, exactly ten years ago, when the road remained closed for months.”

Those comments led BiciSport to speculate that this year’s Milano–Sanremo route might need adjusting. While it cannot be entirely ruled out, all signs suggest that any change would be minimal and would have no real impact on the outcome of the race, scheduled for the 21st of March.

A decade ago, when a similar landslide hit Arenzano, the peloton was briefly diverted off the Via Aurelia onto a nearby motorway segment to bypass the affected area before quickly rejoining the original route. That edition ended with Arnaud Démare’s victory in a blistering sprint, after a frantic and contentious chase triggered by a crash on the Cipressa.