Milan-Sanremo and I

Riccardo Magrini, the "Skinny”, arrives at my house on time at 6.15, perhaps even a few minutes before. The Sanremo is the race to which he is most connected. He raced the Sanremo ten times during his career and though he never won, he raced alongside Eddy Merckx there for the first time. He was stuck to Merckx up to the Turchino, trying to understand how come the Belgian champ had such an amazing strength. The Cannibal for sure, but also monsieur Sanremo, considering his seven triumphs. Sheer madness. Indeed, prodigal stuff. The Milan-Sanremo is a race which enchants and captivates. Riccardo can’t sleep at night if he thinks about it. Today we have to provide the commentary of the race, at the finish line of Via Roma. A historic first time for me, and the same for Riccardo, who in 15 years of career as television commentator, has commentated the World Cup and the Tour of Flanders, but never the Super Classic. If I feel like a child on the carousel of an amusement park, he’s not far off. He couldn’t sleep. It even happened last year, in 2018, when Nibali won. It was a stormy day. At least in Milan there was heavy rain. It was cold and grey with a dark sky. We were at Castello square to test the atmosphere and the face of cyclists.The Belgian cyclists, born and raised with the rain and wind, seemed to be as comfortable as they where enjoying a coffee at a bar. The others were more worried and afraid. It’s not an ideal beginning, starting off with these conditions and thinking about having to face 300km ahead. I hate bad weather and can only imagine what a cyclist would think of that. I considered them heroes. Despite those who criticize them for doping or other nonsense, it’s clear that whoever does this job is a great athlete. That's it! Riccardo and I went toward the bus of teams and suddenly we saw Vincenzo Nibali looking ready and super focused. We tried to say Hi to him but he just passed by, already in a tense and competitive mood. A race such as this is not, on paper, his ‘thing’. But the beauty of the Milan-Sanremo is precisely this: At the start everyone has a chance to win it because it’s unpredictable. Then, usually, super champions win. But predicting correctly is one of the most difficult things to do. Shortly Nibali “The Shark” went away. “The Skinny” turned around to me and said: “Oh, did you see his face?! Oh my God...”. I nodded, but I remained skeptical about Vincenzo’s chances. We went toward the start, talked with Cavendish and Gilbert and then we went home, because we would commentate from the editorial office.

Obviously 2018's Sanremo was won by Vincenzo Nibali. What great proof of his talent which allowed him to finish the race all alone, with arms raised, in Via Roma. A Champion.

After all, “the old dog knows”. “The Skinny” understood then that Vincenzo’s expression in Castello square, was a winning one. A year later we are ready to talk about the race from the TV station of Via Roma in Sanremo - This is a dream for us. We arrived before 10.00 and enjoy the sun. It is still too early for the race and the live broadcast (at 2pm). I walk through the barricaded zone, and while I pass in front of the finish line, I feel a shiver. On these streets, history was made. Actually, cycling legend was made on these streets. Today it is my turn as I will be shouting the name of this year's winner from here. I don’t know who to imagine standing there on the stage of the awards which I can see from our workstation. I would like Viviano or ‘The Prophet’, as I nicknamed him. We will see. I take another walk through the streets of the city of flowers and later I get into the race mood. When I put the headphones and microphone on, I find myself in a parallel world which is fantastic and unique. One cannot do this job without living every race as If it’s a mystical, transcendental experience. I’m feeling privileged and want to enjoy every commentary like it’s my last, experiencing it with all possible emotion. It’s obvious that even for me, a race may be more emotionally “difficult” than another. Today is my second on the ground transfer , after the Tour of Lombardy of 2018. But here, at Sanremo, the season opens. Everyone waits for it. It’s like spring. “five, four, three, two, one...” the countdown of the direction coming from Paris is clear. We are broadcasting live. The show begins. “It’s the race that everyone dreams of, that everyone loves, that everyone wants to win but only few cyclists can win and enter the myth. Cycling lovers welcome to the Milan-Sanremo, the first monumental classic of the season…for Eurosport, we are Luca Gregorio and Riccardo Magrini…” The ice is broken. Now we must convey to cycling lovers, who follow us from home, all the emotion of this race.

“as expected as expected, my dear Skinny, a bunch is sprinting ahead, with ten cyclists who have taken almost ten minutes’ lead. We are talking about Fausto Masnada of the Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec team, Mirco Maestri and Alessandro Tonelli of the Bardiani-Csf team, Guy Sagiv of the Israel Cycling Academy team, Luca Raggio and Se- bastian Schonberger of the Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-Ktm team and then there are 4 cyclists of the Team Novo Nordisk: Joonas Henttala, Charles Planet, Andrea Peron and Umberto Poli...Skinny: “Luca we must congratulate those guys. It’s true that we are used to seeing a breakaway in these situations, but in days like this it’s harder to choose the right one, because there are many cyclists who want to win this race. To see Italian cyclists among those ten cyclists makes me happy. In addition, I have to underline the ability of the guys of the Team Novo Nordisk, because to be able to place 4 cyclists

inside the breakaway of the day is something very uncommon and so it means that they were very skilful”

Luca: “besides, talking about them, the project behind this team is fantastic, because let’s not forget that inside this team there are only guys who have type 1 diabetes. The message to be able to do sport at high level despite this problem, is the kind of message the team want to spread all over the world by introducing the stories of these athletes. I would say that the Milan-Sanremo is the best way to do so. Actually we must say that is the showcase which they always choose, since even in the last edition of this race they always had cyclists in the breakaway of the day and so today the guys of Team Novo Nordisk fulfill this tradition…”

The kilometers go by, the lead goes down, the pack push. Cipressa and Poggio, the key points of the race, are coming up. The breakaway slowly crumbles. Masnada is the last one who is caught. On the Poggio begin the race between the best cyclists. In the pack, there are also top dogs like Nibali, Trentin Sagan, Valverde, Alaphilippe, Kwiatkowski, Van Aert and Naesen. Trentin tries to surprise everyone, breaking away from the pack, at about 1 km from the finish line. Nice try, but nullified. The cyclists will try to win during the final sprint. My heart is pounding. I see them running like the wind… “we are at the end of a fantastic race. Almost everyone we expected to win the race are here trying to do so. Attention here we are… without further ado, Mohoric try the final sprint. Right behind him Alaphilippe, with Kiato and Naesen… Alaphilippe easily overtook Mohoric and run toward the finish line. They can’t reach him, can’t reach him anymoreeeeeee. Julian Alaphilippe!!!!!!!! The musketeer jabs everyone on the finish line of Via Roma!!!”

I don’t know how far away they heard me shouting. I just remember that I was in a trance and I got up on the chair whilst my heart went crazy. Maybe I exaggerated, maybe not. I don’t really care. I lived that moment as it came to me. Like I wanted to live it. As my instinct told me to. And I enjoyed it. The final sprints on the finish line are the most exciting. Because you don’t know how it’s going to end. The emotional escalation is crazy. In addition, if it happens during a Milan-Sanremo and you are there commenting it, you can understand that everything is amplified. Moreover, if a cyclist you love wins the race, the step toward madness is very short. The lasts minutes of the commentary are useful to tone down the many emotions. There is the winner’s interview, there is the award ceremony and then the final farewell and appointment to the next race. The day comes to an end. A dinner by the sea to talk about the things and the people that have animated the past hours and then we are en route to Milan. We are going home. Happy. Satisfied. Full of life. Even more in love with this sport. Ready for a new race. And new stories…

I think the most important thing is awareness. I mean our goals must consider the vast potential of those guys, both as a team and as individuals, but also the fact that they live with a disease. Awareness must help us to evolve with constancy; but without awareness we would lose sight of our real goals which are within our reach. The breakaway was for sure one of these goals and, from my point of view, it was fully accomplished. Four guys with our shirt up front, it meant so much and I’m very proud of their achievement. “

Massimo Podenzana Sport Director of Team Novo Nordisk

Giuseppe Saronni World Champion and Gold Medal Goodwood 1982