Profile & Route Milano-Sanremo 2026

The queen of all classics: Milano-Sanremo. The Italian race is the first of the five monuments of the cycling season and is the longest race on the professional road calendar. Every year it delivers a lot of action and is often termed the closest out of all monuments in the calendar. We take a look at its profile. The race is expected to start and finish at 10:10 and 16.35CET.

The race first held back in 1907 where the legendary Lucien Petit-Breton won its first edition. The race was destined for success right from the get-go, and has had plenty historical winners in its roads. Alfredo Binda, Gino Bartali, Faustro Coppi, Rik van Looy, Raymond Poulidor, Tom Simpson, Eddy Merckx, Roger de Vlaeminck, Francesco Moser, Laurent Fignon, Claudio Ciappuci, Erik Zabel, Mario Cippolinni, Paolo Bettini, Óscar Freire, Filippo Pozzato...

Every generation has had some of its very best win in Sanremo, increasing the race's prestige to a level that few others can, whilst its route provides the opportunity for open races, and for winners of different specialities. Almost every single name in its modern win list have been some of the very best of their times.. Fabian Cancellara, Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff, John Degenjolb, Arnaud Démare, Michal Kwiatkowski, Vincenzo Nibali, Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert, Japer Stuyven, Matej Mohoric, Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen...

It truly is a race like no other. In 2025 Mathieu van der Poel won the race following an incredible battle with Tadej Pogacar on the Cipresa and Poggio di Sanremo.

Starting in Pavia this year, this is the longest pro race in the calendar! 298 kilometers (plus neutral start) will heavily weigh on everyone’s legs by the end, which has it’s usual features. The race’s traditional route through the Ligurian sea, includes the Tre Capi. No important attacks will come here, however the teams looking to make damage on the climbs may look to push the pace.

Capo Mele – 1,9Km; 4.2%; 52Km to go

Capo Cerve – 1.9Km; 2.8%; 47.4Km to go

Capo Berta – 1.8Km; 6.7%; 39Km to go

Quickly the riders will move on to the final and decisive features.

The Cipressa is 5.6Km at an average gradient of 4.1% it doesn’t make for a particularly hard climb, but taking into account when the riders top it they’ll have over 6 hours of racing. In recent years, this has been attacked as hard as any climb in the World Tour calendar, and it has turned the race once again into one where the climbers stand a chance, although positioning is as important as anything into this climb and the approach is very dangerous.

The purest sprinters try to remain hidden, but always well positioned as the descent from Cipressa is very technical, so not only will there be the teams trying to suffocate the sprinters early on as there will be the fight for positioning before the climb and in the summit of it, making for a very nervous and fast section of the race.

And the final climb is the Poggio di Sanremo, the hardest easy climb in the world! Like everything in this race, it is influenced by the distance, 292Km raced at the summit. It is mostly a climb in false flat roads, starting with a set of bends still very near the sea, but in the last 800 meters the steepest ramp in it comes, a short one but 8% of gradient, and it’s a place regularly chosen by riders to make a final attack.

And just as important as the climb is the descent, it’s quite a technical one which allows some recovering after the climb, and it’s a big threat if anyone gets to the bottom solo, no surprise as in the base of it there are only 2200 meters to the line. This is where Matej Mohoric made his decisive attack in 2022 to victory.

The Via Roma will be the place where the winner will be crowned. The finish is familiar already, a flat straightforward road meaning leadouts and chasing are still very possible which is an advantage for the sprinters, but for that they need good support and a smart sense of positioning. And remember, a sprint after 7 hours of racing is different than after 4/5.