Race Report: Lorena Wiebes SD Worx-Protime) won the women’s Milan-San Remo. The race ended in a sprint from a thinned peloton, after Lotte Kopecky pulled in the escaped Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ). Wiebes was then the fastest in the sprint, beating Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).
*** Full race report and photos very soon. ***
The finale
Saturday 22 March 2025 will go down in history as a very important day for women’s cycling; Milan-San Remo returned to the calendar after two decades. With Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Elisa Longo Borghini, Elisa Balsamo, Lorena Wiebes, Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Puck Pieterse, all the top riders were on the start line.
A big Monument win for Lorena Wiebes
The Route:
The route of the Sanremo Women starts in Genova, crosses the area of the Porto Antico (the old harbour), runs around the Polcevera stream and reaches Sestri Ponente, where it enters the Statale Aurelia. After a few kilometres, in Voltri, the race merges with the men’s course, following it all the way to the finish, along the route that has connected Milan to Sanremo for over 110 years. The route continues westwards, by the sea, following the Statale Aurelia through Varazze, Savona, Albenga and Imperia. In San Lorenzo al Mare, past the classic sequence of the Capi (Mele, Cervo and Berta), the peloton will negotiate the two climbs that have entered the race route in recent decades: the Cipressa (1982) and the Poggio di Sanremo (1961). The Cipressa is 5.6km long with a gradient of 4.1%. The highly testing descent leads back down to SS 1 Aurelia.
Sanremo Donne’25 profile
Final kilometres
The ascent of Poggio di Sanremo begins with 9 km remaining to the finish (3.7km, average gradient less than 4%, maximum 8% in the segment before getting to the top of the climb). The road is slightly narrower, with 4 hairpin turns in the first 2km. The descent is testing, on asphalt switchback roads, narrow at points and with twists and turns as far as the junction with SS 1 Aurelia. The final part of the descent enters urban Sanremo. The last 2km are on long, straight urban roads. There is a left-hand bend on a roundabout 850m from the finish line. The last bend, leading into the home straight on the Via Roma, is 750m from the finish line.
Sanremo Donne’25 finale
The difficult final seemed scare the peloton, as there was hardly any attacks in the opening kilometres. The Dutch rider, Anne Knijnenburg was one of the only riders who tried. However, the VolkerWessels team rider wasn’t allowed much space by the peloton, and was quickly caught. Knijnenburg didn’t give up, because she tried again soon after. This time she was more successful and was joined by the Italian riders Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Virginia Bortoli (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo). But the lead of the trio was limited.
A cold start on the coast road to Sanremo
Knijnenburg then dropped her fellow escapees. The 23-year-old rode away with 60 kilometers to go and extended her lead on the peloton. She started the first Capo, the Capo Mele, solo. Just before that Capo Mele, there was a crash in the peloton. One of favourites, Elisa Balsamo, was the biggest victim. The Italian was able to continue, but suffered a hard blow. Soon after the first Capo, Knijnenburg was caught by the peloton. The pace increased due to the work of Visma | Lease a Bike and Fenix-Deceuninck. The riders of FDJ-SUEZ and SD Worx-Protime also came to the front of the peloton. In the end, it was all about positioning, because nothing happened on the Tre Capi.
A fairly large peloton rode to the start of the Cipressa (5.6km at 4%). The nervousness in the peloton increased, which led to several crashes. In a short time, we saw Silke Smulders, Olivia Baril and Letizia Paternoster, and others, hit the tarmac. The peloton was getting smaller. SD Worx-Protime were the first to hit the Cipressa. World champion Kopecky started the climb in an ideal position. Longo Borghini and Vollering were also well up front and put one of their teammates on the front of the peloton. Gradually, a few riders were dropped from the peloton, but the pace was certainly not full on, yet. A fairly large group came over the top of the Cipressa.
Anne Knijnenburg made two early attacks
All the favourites were still in the peloton, which consisted of about 40 to 50 riders. On the descent of the Cipressa, there was a split, a group of 20 riders rode away from the peloton. Again, almost all the big names were there, only Vos had missed the move. This didn’t last long, and before the foot of the Poggio there was a merger. The surge to the Poggio was fast, but on the first sections there was no accelerations. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) started to set a fast pace for Kasia Niewiadoma. This wasn’t fast enough for Juliette Labous, who attacked 1 kilometre from the top. Niewiadoma jumped on her wheel and then came through hard. The Polish rider didn’t get away, after which Kimberley Le Court made her move. This led to some splits, but many riders were still able to follow, including sprinters Elisa Balsamo and Lorena Wiebes.
Borghini with a late attack
At the top, 15 riders were still together, including Demi Vollering. She was the first to plunge into the descent. She continued to lead the group until Puck Pieterse came past. The Fenix-Deceuninck leader used her technical skills to put the rest under pressure. Once down, several riders were on her wheel, including Elisa Longo Borghini. The Italian champion attacked after the descent. Longo Borghini took a nice gap, but in the chasing group Lotte Kopecky was pulling hard in front of Lorena Wiebes. The World champion brought the others closer, but Longo Borghini still had a small gap in the finishing straight. Eventually the group got back to her and the sprint could start.
The sprint from what was left of the bunch
Marianne Vos started that sprint, while Wiebes had to come from further back. The European champion managed to pass Vos, to cross the finish line first, after all the chase work by Kopecky, to take a historic victory. Vos had to settle for second place, with Noemi Rüegg in third.
Win for Wiebes
Sanremo Donne winner, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime): “I had to finish it off! What Lotte did in the final, there are hardly any words for that. When Longo Borghini rode away, I wasn’t worried at all. Of course it was a good attack, but I know how incredibly strong Lotte is. She rode an incredibly strong sprint, but I felt so good today. I was good everywhere. I felt good on the Cipressa and crossed the Poggio in the top five. I knew then: I’m going to ride for the win. Really very high, I really wanted this one. I’ve reconnoitered this course several times and today I really didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
# See all the Milano-Sanremo news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
Sanremo Donne Result:
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime in 3:43:32
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike
3. Noemi Rüegg (Sui) EF Education-Oatly
4. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike Women
5. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-SUEZ
6. Kimberley Le Court de Billot (Maur) AG Insurance-Soudal
7. Chloe Dygert (USA) Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto
8. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek
9. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-SUEZ
10. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime.
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