From the most wins to the fastest ever edition: Milan-Sanremo records

You probably guessed it right: Eddy Merckx. The Cannibal won the race seven times (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976) and never finished second or third in nine appearances. Talk about an incredible strike rate.

Merckx is followed by the Italian Costante Girardengo with 6 victories and Gino Bartali (Italy) and Erik Zabel (Germany) with each 4 wins.

In recent years, Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel has begun adding his name to the list, with victories in 2023 and 2025.

Many people would probably assume that Eddy Merckx holds the record for most podium finishes in Milan-Sanremo, but that honour actually belongs to Costante Girardengo. The Italian won the race six times, finished second three times and third twice, bringing his total to a staggering eleven podium finishes (1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928).

The fastest edition of Milan-Sanremo took place in 2024, with an average speed of 46.11 km/h, narrowly beating the 1990 edition (45.81 km/h), which was won by Gianni Bugno.

The finale exploded on the Poggio. Pogačar launched an attack but could not drop Van der Poel, and the pair started the descent together. Ganna suffered a mechanical, while Pidcock bridged across on the descent. Pedersen and Mohorič later joined them before the rest of the group returned as well, leaving twelve riders to fight for victory.

Van der Poel soon turned into the key figure of the finale. Riding for his teammate Jasper Philipsen, the Dutchman repeatedly closed dangerous moves, including attacks from Mohorič and later Matteo Sobrero, who escaped with Pidcock.

In the end, the race came down to a sprint on Via Roma. Pedersen faded despite receiving the perfect lead-out, leaving Matthews and Philipsen to fight for victory. Matthews lost his glasses during the sprint, and Philipsen edged him out by the smallest of margins.

It perfectly captured what makes Milan-Sanremo so unique. After almost 300 kilometres, the race was decided by a handful of small details.

Due to COVID 19, the 2020 edition of Milan-Sanremo took place in August instead of March. Several coastal towns did not want the race passing through them because of the risk of infections, forcing the organisers to redesign the route. As a result, the race became the longest edition in history at 305 kilometres.

The decisive move came on the Poggio. Julian Alaphilippe launched a fierce attack, and only Wout van Aert could follow. The Belgian had returned to top form after his heavy crash in the Pau time trial at the 2019 Tour de France and had already won Strade Bianche solo a week earlier. Still, near the summit, he had to let Alaphilippe go as the Frenchman crested the climb alone.

However, Alaphilippe’s descent was surprisingly messy. Despite normally being an excellent descender, he struggled through the corners, allowing Van Aert to close the gap. The Belgian rejoined him before the finish, setting up a duel on Via Roma.

With just over a kilometre to go, Alaphilippe stopped cooperating as the chasing group rapidly closed in. Van Aert kept his composure and continued riding towards the finish with the Frenchman on his wheel. In the two-rider sprint, the Belgian proved strongest and claimed his first (and so far only) Monument victory.

Wladimiro Panizza and Philippe Gilbert share the record for the most Milan-Sanremo starts, both lining up eighteen times. For Gilbert, however, the Italian Monument always represented unfinished business. It was the only race missing for him to complete the Monument sweep, winning all five Monuments in your career. Only three riders have ever managed that feat: Roger De Vlaeminck, Eddy Merckx, and Rik Van Looy.

Gilbert came close on several occasions. His best result was third place, achieved in 2008 and 2011. Early in his career, he was more of a puncheur, which helped him win races like Liège- Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, as well as the 2012 World Championships in Valkenburg.

Later in his career, he reinvented himself as a cobbled classics specialist. After joining Quick Step in 2017, he won the Tour of Flanders with a long solo attack before adding Paris-Roubaix two years later. Milan-Sanremo, however, never quite suited him. The explosive effort required on the Poggio was not ideal for a rider who had increasingly turned himself into a diesel engine.

His last real chance came in the unusual 2020 edition. Gilbert was part of the group chasing Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe, but on Via Roma, he launched his sprint too early in an attempt to bridge across to the leaders. The gamble did not pay off, and the Monument sweep remained just out of reach.

The Italians have the most Milan-Sanremo victories to their name, with 51 wins. Many of those victories date back to the early years of the race, when the start list was almost exclusively Italian. Belgium follows with 23 wins, while France completes the top three with 14. Beyond these three nations, no country has managed to build a similarly strong record in the race.

The youngest winner of Milan-Sanremo is Ugo Agostoni, who won the race in 1914 when he was 20 years old. It remained his only victory in the Italian monument.

The oldest winner of the race is Andrei Tchmil. During his career he also won the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix. He won Milan Sanremo in 1999 at the age of 36, launching a surprise attack with 600 meters to go. The sprinters, including Erik Zabel, reacted too late to catch him.

One of the most remarkable facts about Tchmil is that he raced under four different nationalities: the Soviet Union, Moldova, Ukraine and Belgium. This was a direct result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although these changes did not make his career any easier, he still developed into one of the best classics riders of his generation.

The longest solo attack in the history of Milan-Sanremo was by Costante Girardengo in 1918, when he rode the final 200 kilometres alone. Girardengo, who also holds the record for most podium finishes in the race, delivered this remarkable performance during the First World War, a period when the race had only 33 participants. 

The smaller peloton naturally made such a long solo more feasible, but it remains an extraordinary feat nonetheless.

The biggest winning margin in the history of Milan-Sanremo occurred in 1910. The race was won by Eugène Christophe with a gap of 1 hour and 1 minute. Luigi Ganna was initially classified at 39 minutes and 30 seconds behind, but he was later disqualified after being caught holding onto a car.