Ten Races We're Excited About In 2019

1 MILAN-SAN REMO

March 23 TV: Eurosport

The first Monument of the season — and the longest at 294km — will have punchy fastmen like Peter Sagan and Julian Alaphilippe dreaming of glory on the Via Roma. To date, neither has won the race, but they are both down on the provisional startlist this year and came very close in 2017. The inevitable solo escape over the Poggio will be a feature, but it’s not a steep climb and the 6km run-in to the line is a long way on your own — a small group of roadman sprinters is likely to finish the job.

2 STRADE BIANCHE

March 9 TV: Eurosport

Last year’s podium at the modern Monument contained a green Classics specialist in Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal), a certified mountain goat in Romain Bardet (Ag2r) and a cyclo-cross champion in Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), which perfectly demonstrates how any type of rider can win this race. The course is unchanged, so while with every passing edition there is the possibility that a certain set of riders will have worked out how to control the race, there’s been little sign of that happening so far. May the chaos continue.

Why I love it: Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo)

Strade Bianche is special because it’s mostly on gravel roads. What I like the most is the final: we have the finish in Piazza del Campo which is itself a masterpiece of art and all around you have those important buildings where there is so much history, art and culture. You breath all of this.

3 TOUR OF FLANDERS

April 7 TV: Eurosport