Milan-San Remo 2026 preview: Route, favourites, TV coverage & live stream

The true prelude to the classics season, the first of the five so-called monuments. In Italy, they call the race La Classicissima, the "super classic" or "La Primavera", the ride into spring from the often still foggy Po Valley to the Mediterranean. With a distance of almost 300 kilometres, it is the longest race of the season for the men. Compared to the previous year, the route is around nine kilometres longer at 298 kilometres. The women's race was only held again last year after a long break.

Milan-San Remo 2026 - the most important facts in brief

• Date: Saturday, 21 March 2026
• Start: 10:25 a.m.
• Finish: ~ 16:42-17:19
• Distance: 298 kilometres
• Start: Pavia, Piazza della Vittoria; Target: San Remo, Via Roma
• UCI category: World Tour
• To the race report from Milan-San Remo 2025
• To the race report of the women's race

Milan-San Remo 2026: The route

Ride into spring, la Primavera, is the name of the race that kicks off the big spring classics every season. The course is not normally known for major route changes - and this year is no exception. The start is not in Milan but, as in previous years, in Pavia, around 40 kilometres to the south.

The city with its 70,000 inhabitants is located on the River Ticino, just before it flows into the Po. Pavia can look back on a certain cycling tradition, as stages of the Giro d'Italia have ended here several times. The Milan-San Remo race also regularly passed through this town on its way from Milan to the Po Valley.

Milan-San Remo 2026: Turchino Pass highest point

The route leads via Casteggio, Tortona and Ovada to the Passo del Turchino, which, apart from the corona-related exception in 2020, has always been part of the race, at least as planned - in 2013, however, snowfall prevented the riders from crossing the mountain, so they were transported over it by bus and then continued the race. This year, the highest point of the race will be reached after 148 kilometres - almost exactly halfway through the route. The additional kilometres will be largely flat on a small loop north of Tortona.

The route then remains unchanged. West of Genoa, the riders reach the Ligurian coast, which they follow all the way to San Remo. The route is mostly flat, but not continuous. In addition to the Passo del Turchino, the three Capi Mele, Cervo and Berta provide an interruption to the flat profile in quick succession from kilometre 246.

Cipressa and Poggio in the final

After 27.3 kilometres before the finish, the riders reach the foot of the Cipressa in San Lorenzo a Mare, followed by the Poggio around 16 kilometres later. From there, it is less than six kilometres to Via Roma in San Remo, where the race traditionally ends. The riders will have covered a total of 298 kilometres.

The hotspot for fans

The ascent to the final Poggio climb can be considered a fixed point on the race route. The Piazza della Libertà in Poggio di Sanremo, from where the racers set off towards the finish after the final climb, is a meeting point for fans. The famous telephone box at the crossroads no longer exists - but there is a café where you can stop for a bite to eat

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The starters: 25 teams

25 teams are to take part in the race. The 18 World Tour teams and the three best pro teams had already qualified automatically. There were also four wildcards. The teams at a glance:

18 World Teams

• ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH
• BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS
• DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM
• EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST
• GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED
• INEOS GRENADIERS
• LIDL-TREK
• LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ
• MOVISTAR TEAM
• NSN CYCLING TEAM
• RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE
• SOUDAL QUICK-STEP
• TEAM JAYCO ALULA
• TEAM PICNIC POSTNL
• TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE
• UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG
• UNO-X MOBILITY
• XDS ASTANA TEAM

The top 3 pro teams according to the 2025 world rankings

• COFIDIS
• PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM
• TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM

4 wildcards

• BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER
• TEAM NOVO NORDISK
• TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA
• UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS

The favourites: Pogacar, van der Poel - and who else?

Hardly any major classic is as unpredictable as Milan-San Remo. The group of favourites is correspondingly large. Of course, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) is the rider on whom all eyes are on. How the Slovenian can win the race, we have already examined in detail here. As last year, his biggest rival could be Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck), whom he has repeatedly tried to distance in vain in recent years. Or will there be a bunch sprint with new faces like the Brit Matthew Brennan (Team Visma-Lease a bike)?

TV broadcast & live stream

In Germany, Milan-San Remo will be shown on the Eurosport and Discovery+/HBO+ channels. The internet live streams and the linear TV channel Eurosport 2 are subject to a charge.

TV

* The men's race can be followed during this time on HBO Max and discovery+ (internet live stream)

Livestream

The race can be seen in full length on HBO Max and discovery+. Details at www.eurosport.de or https://play.discoveryplus.com/

All winners of Milan-San Remo since 1907

• 1907 Lucien Petit-Breton (France)
• 1908 Cyrille van Hauwaert (Belgium)
• 1909 Luigi Ganna (Italy)
• 1910 Eugene Christophe (France)
• 1911 Gustave Garrigou (France)
• 1912 Henri Pelissier (France)
• 1913 Odile Defraye (Belgium)
• 1914 Ugo Agsotini (Italy)
• 1915 Ezio Corlaita (Italy)
• 1917 Gaetano Belloni (Italy)
• 1918 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1919 Angelo Cremo (Italy)
• 1920 Gaetano Belloni (Italy)
• 1921 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1922 Giovanni Brunero (Italy)
• 1923 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1924 Pietro Linari (Italy)
• 1925 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1926 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1927 Pietro Chiesi (Italy)
• 1928 Costante Girardengo (Italy)
• 1929 Alfredo Binda (Italy)
• 1930 Michele Mara (Italy)
• 1931 Alfredo Binda (Italy)
• 1932 Alfredo Bovet (Italy)
• 1933 Learco Guerra (Italy)
• 1934 Joseph Demuysere (Belgium)
• 1935 Giuseppe Olmo (Italy)
• 1936 Angelo Varetto (Italy)
• 1937 Cesare Del Cancia (Italy)
• 1938 Giuseppe Olmo (Italy)
• 1939 Gino Bartali (Italy)
• 1940 Gino Bartali (Italy)
• 1941 Pierino Favalli (Italy)
• 1942 Adolfo Leoni (Italy)
• 1943 Cino Cinelli (Italy)
• 1946 Fausto Coppi (Italy)
• 1947 Gino Bartali (Italy)
• 1948 Fausto Coppi (Italy)
• 1949 Fausto Coppi (Italy)
• 1950 Gino Bartali (Italy)
• 1951 Louison Bobet (France)
• 1952 Loretto Petrucci (Italy)
• 1953 Loretto Petrucci (Italy)
• 1954 Rik van Steenbergen (Belgium)
• 1955 Germain Derycke (Belgium)
• 1956 Alfred De Bruyne (Belgium)
• 1957 Miguel Poblet (Spain)
• 1958 Rik van Looy (Belgium)
• 1959 Miguel Poblet (Spain)
• 1960 Rene Privat (France)
• 1961 Raymond Poulidor (France)
• 1962 Emile Daems (Belgium)
• 1963 Joseph Groussard (France)
• 1964 Tom Simpson (Great Britain)
• 1965 Arie den Hartog (Netherlands)
• 1966 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1967 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1968 Rudi Altig (Germany)
• 1969 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1970 Michele Dancelli (Italy)
• 1971 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1972 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1973 Roger De Vlaeminck (Belgium)
• 1974 Felice Gimondi (Italy)
• 1975 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1976 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
• 1977 Jan Raas (Netherlands)
• 1978 Roger De Vlaeminck (Belgium)
• 1979 Roger De Vlaeminck (Belgium)
• 1980 Piermattia Gavazzi (Italy)
• 1981 Alfons De Wolf (Belgium)
• 1982 Marc Gomez (France)
• 1983 Giuseppe Saronni (Italy)
• 1984 Francesco Moser (Italy)
• 1985 Hennie Kuiper (Netherlands)
• 1986 Sean Kelly (Ireland)
• 1987 Erich Mächler (Switzerland)
• 1988 Laurent Fignon (France)
• 1989 Laurent Fignon (France)
• 1990 Gianni Bugno (Italy)
• 1991 Claudio Chiappucci (Italy)
• 1992 Sean Kelly (Ireland)
• 1993 Maurizio Fondriest (Italy)
• 1994 Giorgio Furlan (Italy)
• 1995 Laurent Jalabert (France)
• 1996 Gabriele Colombo (Italy)
• 1997 Erik Zabel (Germany)
• 1998 Erik Zabel (Germany)
• 1999 Andrei Tchmil (Belgium)
• 2000 Erik Zabel (Germany)
• 2001 Erik Zabel (Germany)
• 2002 Mario Cipollini (Italy)
• 2003 Paolo Bettini (Italy)
• 2004 Oscar Freire (Spain)
• 2005 Alessandro Petacchi (Italy)
• 2006 Filippo Pozzato (Italy)
• 2007 Oscar Freire (Spain)
• 2008 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
• 2009 Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)
• 2010 Oscar Freire (Spain)
• 2011 Matthew Goss (Australia)
• 2012 Simon Gerrans (Australia)
• 2013 Gerald Ciolek (Germany)
• 2014 Alexander Kristoff (Norway)
• 2015 John Degenkolb (Germany)
• 2016 Arnaud Demare (France)
• 2017 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
• 2018 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
• 2019 Julian Alaphilippe (France)
• 2020 Wout van Aert (Belgium)
• 2021 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
• 2022 Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)
• 2023 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
• 2024 Jasper Philipsen (Belgium)
• 2025 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)