I was away over the weekend, so only got to watch Milan – San Remo last night. This year’s race was one of the most thrilling editions in recent years, albeit partly down to pure chance. Rain and several crashes on the Manie climb saw the bunch split in two, with enough big names in the front to motivate several teams to drive the pace and try make it stick. The split put paid to the chances of Cavendish, Freire, Hushovd and Farrar, but their group’s chase animated the race for much of the last 100km.

The big story of the weekend was, of course, Matt Goss’s victory. Goss, who’s still only 24, has had a fantastic season already, but this win will vault him into the big league. He rode a very smart race. As the only rider from his team in the leading bunch, he kept a cool head to take victory. One of the best sprinters in the group, he knew that he just had to stay in contact near the top of the Poggio and he would stand a good chance of winning. As it happened, the other sprinters in the group never made the cut. Andre Greipel sacrificed his chances to the cause of team mate Philippe Gilbert by riding on the front to try and bring the late breakaways back. Petacchi and Bennati meanwhile lost contact on the Poggio. Once you saw the composition of the final group you knew Goss would take the win as long as he didn’t go too early.

Gilbert took third but will probably be feeling quite disappointed since he was arguably the strongest rider in the race. His Omega Pharma – Lotto team had three riders in the first bunch. He and sprinter Andre Greipel were two cards the team could play for victory, while they had Vicente Reynes to do the domestique donkey work of helping keep the gap. Yet Gilbert’s favourite tag did him no favours. Greipel, as already mentioned, was used up on the Cipressa, leaving Gilbert riding alone. He ended up doing far too much, chasing down attacks on the Poggio and launching a late solo attack on the streets of San Remo. He would have been up against it in a sprint anyway, but after that much work he didn’t stand a chance.

Leopard – Trek too will be quite disappointed, despite Fabian Cancellara coming second. They had an embarrasment of riches in the leading group. Aside from Cancellara, there was the sprinter Daniele Bennati, proven classics man Stuart O’Grady and the talented German Linus Gerdemann. On the Poggio Leopard seemed to be holding all the aces, with O’Grady in a four man break out front, forcing other teams to do the chasing. But Gerdemann and Bennati were dropped and O’Grady’s group caught. With the likes of Pozzato, Ballan and Gilbert in the group, Cancellara was always going to be marked tightly. Not the world’s greatest sprinter, he did very well to take second. Had Bennati managed to hang on, the team would have been a much bigger threat.

One thing the race did tell us is that Alessandro Ballan is back to his best. After winning the World Championships in 2008, Ballan was ill for most of 2009. He had another poor season last year and was even provisionally withdrawn from racing for a while because of a doping investigation that ultimately didn’t result in charges. He rode strongly this weekend and looked a real threat. His fourth place means that he will be a man to watch come the Tour of Flanders and Paris – Roubaix.

One of the highlights of the day was the performance of the Francaise de Jeux team. Despite having no big name favourites, they made a courageous effort. Steve Chainel rode his heart out making a gap for his team mate Yoann Offredo, who did his best to keep the small group of he, O’Grady and Van Avermaet away on the Poggio. Even after he was dropped, Chainel strove to get back on to the break to assist Offredo. The pain on his face as he tried to take the charging Vincenzo Nibali’s wheel was humbling to see.

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