Milano-Sanremo 2024 LIVE – Attack-filled finale sees sprinter Philipsen the photo-finish winner from Michael Matthews, with Pogacar third

The gap has gone out and is hovering around 2'50. I tell you what, if I was in the break, I'd be a bit peeved. I wouldn't blame them for calling the bunch's bluff and easing off. The teams directing the tactics of the peloton don't actually want to catch the escapees, but if they're not going to be allowed room to ride, perhaps they should refuse to? Just a thought.

You can watch all of the action from Milano-Sanremo live on Eurosport 2 and discovery+

I also like this one.

It's true, the five-time Monument winner, two-time Tour de France champion, is a very limited rider. ;-)

Mostly riders to be honest. Runners might struggle today. In descending order of their likelihood of winning, according to the bookies. I've just watched an interview with the man at the bottom of this list, Toms Skujins, in which he said he will be working for Mads Pederson today, his job being to position the Dane ahead of the Poggio. He couldn't ask for a better lieutenant.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Mads Pederson (Lidl-Trek)
Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease A Bike)
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious)
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Decuninck)
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First)
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike)
Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)
Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Biniam Ghirmay (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty)
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep)
Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny)
Toms Skujinš (Lidl-Trek)

I rode with his dad yesterday. That I didn't know the south Londoner was one of the seven Brits on the startlist tells you that I have not put him on my list of riders with a chance of taking the day. And not just because there's only really two men on it. I will wager that Fred will get his first big win - excluding the national road title - this season.

Can the cyclers please make up their mind as to how they'd like this event to unfold? They've just gone through Castello Visconteo onto a long, wide Lomardian boulevard and the bunch is all strung out behind the likes of e.g. Alpecin-Deceuninck, with dsm-firmenichNL and Intermarche-Circus-Wanty on their tails. A few more riders are stopping to rid themselves of liquid ballast, so maybe the lead will stretch out again.

Still in the province of Pavia this is where, in 222BC, Marcus Claudius Marcellus defeated the Gauls, by toutatis.

More pertinently the race has reached the eastern reaches and is again pointing towards the south west.

At just north of two minutes, it's still not huge, but it no longer looks done for as it did for a while.

The Groupama-FDJ rider has put the brakes on in break and returned to the bunch.

Eight kilometres to go? It's not quite as crazy as his 81km solo at Strade Bianche two weeks ago. And on that occasion he wasn't up against the power of Mathieu van der Poel. The gradient of the Poggio is much more favourable for a watts-per -kilo follow from the incumbent than the steep slopes of Tuscany. I would genuinely be suprised if Pogacar can manifest this one.

And as they pootle through Broni the breakaway is barely 90 seconds to the good. What on earth is going on? When did teams become so scared of breakaways? I know it's a bit chonkier (in the number of riders) than typical, but there's no way this lot are going the distance.

That lead hasn't exactly increased at an exponential rate - it's actually just ticked down a few seconds - and the explanation can be seen on the face of Lidl-Trek's Jacopo Mosca, who has been set to work on the front of the bunch. Far from letting this group have an easy day out, Pederson's pals are intent on keeping them on a short leash.

It's actually eleven riders out front, who are:

Davide Baldacchini (Corratec-Vini Fantini)
Valerio Conti (Corratec-Vini Fantini)
Kyrylo Tsarenko (Corratec-Vini Fantini)
Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ)
Sergio Samitier (Movistar)
Romain Combaud (dsm-firmenich PostNL)
Davide Bais (Polti-Kometa)
Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa)
Andrea Pietrobon
Alessandro Tonelli
Samuele Zoccarato

Eight Italians, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and a Ukrainian. I'll let you guess which is which.

Snipped off the front is a group of, by my count, a dozen riders. One rider from Corratec almost missed it but just managed to power across. They're straight into a rotating paceline, sharing the work. Behind the impetus has dropped right out of the bunch, presenting the opportunity for nature breaks, reading the paper, etcetera etcetera.

It's started very quickly and - 56kph for the first 10 - and all they've managed is to chip into the total distance. At this rate we'll be done before lunchtime. Which would be nice for some, but I'm getting paid by the hour.

With, for me at least, unusual names. Sponsors do change, after all. The teams most eager to escape the peloton's clutches on this pan-flat road include:

Corratec-Vini Fantini
Polti-Kometa
VF-Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane

Plus the more familiar colours of Movistar, dsm-firmenich, and Astana. Spoiler, none of those will be contesting the finish in Sanremo, either.

Carlton seems to think (and no reason to doubt him) that Bardiani's Alessandro Tonelli has made the MSR break six years in a row. Which is an achievement of sorts.

And the race director must have left his yellow flag in the hotel, because it's the chequered one he's waving after reaching out of the sunroof to signal the official start of La Primavera. I guarantee that the breakaway won't make it to the finish, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of interest in getting into it. The attacks start straight away and the most active are the smaller local teams.

A few inches of mercury warmer than south London, but similarly bright. If anything that's a bit warmer than I might like for an occasion like this. The race is all but guaranteed to be precipitation free all the way along the coast.

NEUTRAL START - THEY'RE LINING UP BEHIND THE CAR IN PAVIA

And we've just joined the company of Carlton Kirby for the (my) first time this season. Which is very nice.

There's 5.6km to KM0 where the official commencement of proceedings will take place, and it's Mathieu van der Poel who leads the way, in his rainbow stripes and (Adam Blythe approved) white shorts. This isn't Paris-Roubaix or Strade Bianche where a rider might regret such a decision - just good clean tarmac all the way to Sanremo.