The pre-race expectation is that this weekend’s edition of Milan-San Remo will end with a bunch sprint. Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet are two men that plan to make sure that doesn’t happen on Sunday. The Belgian duo have both named La Primavera as their first major target of the season, and assume a joint leadership role with BMC heading into the race.
Gilbert and Van Avermaet last shared this responsibility at the World Championships in Ponferrada in 2014, and as their careers and goals increasingly get entangled in each other’s, they find themselves going up against one another. Unlike some major teams, who have two different cards to play, BMC finds themselves with two of a kind.
“For me, it is an advantage. Two guys are better than one,” said Gilbert during a pre-race press conference at the team’s hotel in Milan. “You see QuickStep, they have three guys. I think for this race it is good. Kwiatkowski and Stybar are pretty much the same so they are in pretty much the same situation. So many things can happen and if I’m not there or Greg isn’t there for one reason or another it’s better to have other options.”
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The lack of Le Manie this season does make the prospect of a bunch finish more likely and with the strength of sprinters’ teams, it’s going to be hard to hold them off. However, the return of the Via Roma finish could be one saving grace for an escapee as the run-in to the line is shorter than it has been in recent years.
“I know the finish from TV. It’s good for us both because it’s shorter to the Poggio, one kilometre less almost. So it will be better for us so that the sprinters can recuperate a little bit less,” Van Avermaet said. “I think we will see how it goes in the race. We have two great options, and I think that Phil has had a lot of good results here and I am in good shape. I think we have a really strong team and we are both riders that can go easily over the Cipressa and the Poggio.”
Gilbert’s record at San Remo is the better of the pair with two third places finishes – in 2008 and 2011 – and, unlike Van Avermaet, he has first-hand experience of the Via Roma finish. Van Avermaet’s best performance was 9th in 2011 after he had led alone over the Poggio.
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