Sprinter extraordinaire Lorena Wiebes scored the first Milan-San Remo Donne for SD Worx Protime on Saturday, outsprinting the legend Marianne Vos. The race, once called the Primavera Classic, was held between 1999 and 2005 and is now a new round of the Women’s WorldTour. Magdeleine Vallieres was top Canadian.
The Course
The women would take on the Ligurian Coast section of the men’s race, starting back in Genoa, for 156 km in total. First the riders would face the three Capi starting at the 101.5 km mark. Kilometre 128.5 was where 6-km Cipressa made a selection. The famed Poggio crested with 5.5 km to the line. A harrowing descent past the greenhouses led to the finish line on Via Roma.
The Canadian contingent was Olivia Baril, Sarah van Dam, Simone Boilard and Magdeleine Vallieres.
The Genoa start meant that the women didn’t get the rain of the men’s edition. A couple of short-lived solo breakaways marked the early kilometres. With 85 km to go another lone rider skipped away and a duo lit out after her. By the first Capi, Capo Mele, Anne Knijnenburg was within hailing distance of the peloton and the chase was absorbed. Vollering’s FDJ-Suez ran Knijnenburg down before other teams grabbed the reins for Capo Cervo.
Capo Berta began the selection.
Baril crashed with another rider just before the Cipressa. UAE Team ADQ and FDJ-Suez charged into its foot. Kopecky marked Vollering. The field was down to 40 riders–van Dam was still accounted for–but there were no attacks. Gaps appeared in the peloton on the descent but were sewed up on the way to the Poggio.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was the locomotive pulling the train up the Poggio, Katarzyna Niewiadoma second wheel. Juliette Labous attacked and Niewiadoma marked her. Vollering took over before the descent. Puck Pieterse used the sinuous road to take the front. At the bottom Elisa Longo Borghini attacked. Kopecky led the desperate chase.
The Italian champion was absorbed with 200 meters to go and then Wiebes went hard down the middle. Marianne Vos tried to come around on the left side to no avail.
Wiebes took three of the five stages of the WorldTour UAE Tour in February and Le Samyn des Dames before Saturday’s victory.
2025 Milan-San Remo Donne
1) Lorean Wiebes (The Netherlands/SD Worx-Protime) 3:43:42
2) Marianne Vos (The Netherlands/Visma-LAB) s.t.
3) Noemi Rüegg…
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