The longest Monument of the year goes like this: 298 kilometers from Pavia to the Via Roma, 7-plus hours in the saddle for the pros, two small climbs in the final 20km that decide everything. For 278km, nothing happens. Then, in the space of about 30 minutes, the race is made or broken.

Milan-San Remo 2026 is the biggest Monument of early spring and one of the most tactically complex races on the calendar. Why it’s hard, and why the finale catches so many strong riders out, has direct training implications for anyone targeting long fondos or races with punchy late-race climbs.

Quick Verdict

Aspect	Rating
Race length training application	Pacing, glycogen management, fatigue resistance
Key climbs	Cipressa (5.6km at 4.1%), Poggio (3.7km, ramps to 8%)
Primary lesson	How you ride the first 250km determines what you have at the Poggio
Amateur equivalent	Any gran fondo or century ride with late-race climbs

Main takeaway: Late-race power is a training outcome, not just a race-day prayer Relevant if: You target events over 120km with climbs in the final 25%

What Makes 298km Different

This edition starts in Pavia instead of Milan, adding roughly 12km to the route and making it the longest Strade Bianche-to-Remo stretch in five years. That distance change sounds like a detail, but for the riders and for the training lessons, it’s significant.

At 298km, the race is long enough that even the strongest domestiques struggle to keep the peloton together through the coastal sections near Imperia. Wind, road furniture, accumulated fatigue, and team tactics all start to play bigger roles than they do in shorter classics.

The favorites (Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, and Filippo Ganna on home roads) will have protected themselves carefully for 7 hours before the Cipressa even appears. That pacing discipline across the flat sections is a skill that doesn’t get talked about enough.

The Cipressa and Poggio: What the Numbers Actually Mean

The Cipressa gets less attention than the Poggio because it isn’t where the race is won. But it’s often where the race is lost.

Cipressa: 5.6km at 4.1% average. That average is misleading. The climb ramps through sections near 9%, then eases before steepening again. For a Monument winner, it’s ridden at threshold or above to set up the Poggio. For a rider who’s been poorly positioned or who’s poorly fueled, it’s the moment they get gapped and the day is over.

Poggio: 3.7km at an average of roughly 4%, with upper sections touching 8%. The Poggio is short enough to be ridden at VO2-max intensity. The attack that wins Milan-San Remo usually happens in the steep top third, the last kilometer, where the gradient punishes anyone who let their power drop earlier on the climb.

After the Poggio, there’s a fast technical descent to the Via Roma. Which means whoever attacks on the Poggio also has to handle the descent at race speed, then hold a gap or sprint from a small group. Multiple skills under severe fatigue.

For your training: these two climbs in sequence are a specific physiological challenge. A moderate climb at threshold to strip the peloton, then a short punch at VO2-max on the Poggio. If you’ve done any of the spring classics base-to-race training work, you’ve trained exactly this demand with the over-under and punch-and-hold sessions.

The 250km Problem: Surviving to the Climbs

Here’s the amateur translation of what Milan-San Remo actually teaches.

Most cyclists who blow up late in long events don’t blow up because the final climb is hard. They blow up because they arrived at the final climb already cooked from the preceding 250km. Glycogen depleted, power fading, cadence dropping below 80rpm. The climb just exposes what was already there.

This is a training AND nutrition problem combined.

The training side: Long aerobic conditioning determines how much energy your body burns at any given pace. A better-trained aerobic engine burns less glycogen at the same watt output, leaving more reserves for the moments when you need to push.

At race pace for La Primavera, the pros are mostly in zone 2 to low zone 3 for the first 200km. Not because they’re sandbagging, but because that’s the only way to have legs on the Poggio. A rider who spends four hours at zone 3 instead of zone 2 in the early race will have burned through glycogen reserves they can’t replace fast enough, regardless of fueling.

The nutrition side: 298km at even moderate intensity requires 5,000+ calories for a pro. Fueling mistakes over seven hours are not recoverable by the time the Cipressa appears. You can’t eat your way out of a 90-minute deficit in the final 20km.

For amateurs doing 5-7 hour events, the same principle applies. Under-fueling by 200-300 calories per hour early in the ride becomes a power deficit on the final climb that no amount of gels can fix. See the indoor training nutrition guide for the science on why glycogen depletion sets in faster than most riders think. The Science of Sport podcast’s analysis of Monument fueling covers the carbohydrate oxidation rates at different intensities in accessible detail.

The Pacing Architecture of a 298km Race

Understanding how pros structure their effort across a Monument helps you structure yours across any long event.

Hours 1-3 (roughly 0-90km from Pavia): The peloton holds together. Pace is controlled. Not easy, but controlled. Breakaways go. The peloton lets them go. For the GC and Classics favorites, this is genuine zone 2 riding. Fueling aggressively even though it feels unnecessary.

Hours 3-5 (roughly 90-190km): The Ligurian coast section, where wind exposure increases and road configuration forces some effort surges. This is where discipline matters most. A five-minute surge to chase back onto the peloton costs less energy in hour four than it does in hour six.

Hours 5-7 (roughly 190-270km): Approaches to San Remo. The bunch thins. Pace increases incrementally. Teams set up. The physiological cost of this section is underrated. It’s not dramatic, but it’s sustained work that eats into reserves.

Final 30km: Everything. The Cipressa, descent, run-in to Poggio, the climb, the descent, the sprint or solo.

The lesson: if you’re targeting any event over 100km with meaningful climbs in the final 25%, your pacing target for the first 60% of the event should feel conservative. Not slow. Conservative. If you’re working hard in the first half, you’re borrowing from the finish.

Training Workouts That Build Poggio-Finish Legs

The specific physiological demand at the Poggio (explosive power after hours of sustained effort) requires targeted training. Doing long zone 2 rides alone won’t prepare your legs for that late-race punch. Doing VO2 intervals in fresh legs won’t simulate the accumulated fatigue.

You need both, combined deliberately.

Workout 1: The Fatigued-Finish Interval

This session goes after 2-2.5 hours of zone 2. Don’t do it on fresh legs. The fatigue is the point.

• 2-2.5 hours zone 2 (honest zone 2, 65-75% FTP)
• Without stopping: 3x8 min at 100-105% FTP with 4 min recovery
• Final effort: 1x3 min at 110-115% FTP (Poggio simulation)

RPE: The zone 2 portion should feel like a 5-6/10. The intervals that follow will feel like 8-9/10 in a way they wouldn’t on fresh legs. That’s the stimulus you’re training.

Workout 2: Over-Under Into Sprint

Designed for the Cipressa-to-Poggio sequence specifically.

• 20 min warm-up
• 4x6 min over-under: 3 min at 95% FTP, 3 min at 108% FTP
• 3 min easy between
• 3 min full recovery
• 3x45-sec all-out sprint with 3 min easy between
• 15 min cool-down

RPE: 8/10 during over-unders, 10/10 on sprints. The over-unders simulate Cipressa pace. The sprints simulate the Poggio attack when your legs are already acidic.

Workout 3: Long Ride With Poggio Repeats

4-5 hours total. This one needs outdoor terrain if you have it.

• 3-3.5 hours steady zone 2, ideally with some moderate rollers
• Final 60-90 min: find a 3-5 min climb and do 4-5 repeats at max sustainable effort
• Full descent recovery between
• Last repeat at genuine maximum effort

This is the closest simulation most amateurs can do to what the Poggio demands after 280km. After 3.5 hours of riding, those final climb repeats will hurt in a specific way.

What the Favorites Reveal About Tactics

Pogačar, Van der Poel, and Van Aert will almost certainly be in a small group by the Poggio. Whether it’s a sprint from a bunch or a solo or a small breakaway depends on who attacks, when, and whether it sticks on the descent.

Ganna, the Italian time trial specialist and one of the strongest riders in the world, will be hoping for a bunch sprint finish. His flat-road power is extraordinary. A small-group sprint on the Via Roma suits him. An uphill attack at 8% gradient on the Poggio does not.

This dynamic shows up in amateur racing all the time: the strongest rider in the group isn’t always the winner. The rider who attacks at the right moment, at the right gradient, when others are managing rather than racing: that’s often who takes the win.

For your own racing: studying La Primavera specifically for the tactical patterns is useful even if you’re racing a local criterium. The principle of attacking when others are on the limit applies at every level. The Omloop race analysis covers Van der Poel’s Muur attack in detail. Same principle, earlier in the spring.

The Amateur Century Lesson

You’re probably not racing 298km. But if you’re targeting any gran fondo over 150km, any century with late climbs, or any race that runs more than 3 hours, the pacing architecture of Milan-San Remo applies directly.

The common amateur mistake in long events: riding the first half too hard because it feels manageable, then arriving at the hard section with empty legs. It’s not a fitness problem. It’s a pacing problem that could be fixed without a single extra training session.

A few practical adjustments for your next long event:

Early pacing target: If you have a power meter, first two hours should be 65-72% FTP. It will feel slow. Resist the urge to ride with faster groups early. Let them go. The early season race prep guide covers this in the context of short races, but the principle doubles down at century distances.

Fueling cadence: Start eating at 20 minutes, not when you feel hungry. On efforts over 3 hours, hunger arrives after you’ve already started burning reserves. 60-80g carbs per hour from the first hour, not the third.

Climb pacing: On the final climbs, resist the temptation to match the pace of whoever is going hardest. Set your own pace based on what you have left, not what others are doing. A 5-second gap on the Cipressa that you ride at your pace is far better than closing that gap at a cost you can’t sustain through the Poggio.

Race Day Preview: What to Watch For

Milan-San Remo 2026 gives us the strongest field La Primavera has seen in years.

Pogačar is the odds-on favorite. He won in 2024, and his capacity to sprint from a small group, survive a Poggio attack, or make the Poggio attack himself is better than anyone in the field. If he’s in the front group at the top of the Poggio, he’s nearly unbeatable. The official race route details are on the RCS Sport site.

Van der Poel will be coming off Omloop form. His Muur attack at Omloop 2026 was as decisive as any race win gets. He went and nobody followed. The question at Remo is whether his team can control the Cipressa enough to set up a Poggio attack or if the dynamics push it to a bunch sprint.

Van Aert was absent from Omloop due to illness. This will be a key early indicator of his 2026 spring form. If he’s at full strength, he changes the tactical equation for everyone. He can sprint, climb, and attack.

Ganna on home roads, with Italian crowd energy, in one of the few Monument-level races that suits a power sprinter. If the race comes back together after the Poggio descent, he’s dangerous.

For the amateur watching at home: watch the Cipressa closely for who gets dropped in the final kilometer and who burns matches to chase back. Watch the Poggio for who attacks and who chases versus who manages. The tactical decisions made in those 15 minutes are the clearest window into what race-level positioning and pacing discipline looks like.

How This Fits Your March Training

La Primavera typically runs mid-to-late March. If you’ve been working through a spring build block, you’re now 2-4 weeks from your first meaningful race efforts.

The training focus right now shouldn’t shift dramatically based on watching Milan-San Remo. But the race does offer a useful diagnostic: the qualities you want your training to build are endurance deep enough to still have legs after 5+ hours, and power available for 5-10 hard efforts in the final 30 minutes.

The Paris-Nice training guide covers stage race pacing over multiple days, which is a different demand. Single-day Monument endurance is more specific: one long effort, structured pacing, preserved for a finale.

If you’re using a structured plan, the Fatigued-Finish Interval workout above fits naturally into a long ride day in weeks 8-10 of a 12-week build. If you’re training by feel, any Saturday or Sunday long ride of 4+ hours that ends with hard climbing efforts is better preparation than any fresh-leg interval session.

The Bottom Line

298km teaches patience. The race doesn’t ask for heroics for 270km. It asks for survival, pacing discipline, and fueling execution. When the Cipressa arrives, you need something left for the Poggio.

That lesson transfers directly to any long event you target. Whatever your event distance, you have a “Poggio moment”: the final climb, the sprint, the hard surge that decides where you finish. How you ride the miles before that moment is the actual training question.

The Cipressa comes in kilometer 280. Make sure your pacing decisions in kilometers 1-260 put you in position to race it rather than survive it.

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Milan-San Remo 2026 is scheduled for late March. Race distance 298km, starting in Pavia. Final climbs: Cipressa (5.6km, 4.1%) and Poggio (3.7km, ramps to 8%). Key favorites: Pogačar, Van der Poel, Van Aert, Ganna.