Team News: Kwiatkowski 11th in Sanremo

Defending Milan Sanremo champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) was 11th in the 2018 edition of the Milan Sanremo

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Team News: Kwiatkowski 11th in Sanremo

Team report

Michal Kwiatkowski led Team Sky home in 11th place as Milan-San Remo reached a thrilling conclusion on the Via Roma. The defending champion found himself towards the head of the race on the famous Poggio climb, and despite attempting a pair of attacks, neither Kwiatkowski or a strong group of favourites were able to overhaul a stinging late acceleration from Vincenzo Nibali.

The Italian (Bahrain Merida) pushed clear on the final climb and quickly opened up an advantage. A sizeable group behind came back together on the final run-in, but the massed ranks of sprinters could not bring back Nibali, who came home arms raised, metres before the chasing sprinters.
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Kwiatkowski was unable to influence the sprint and finished just outside the top 10 after 294 kilometres of action. Gianni Moscon also clung on to the lead group and finished 29th, five seconds back.

After the race Kwiatkowski talked us through the day, and how the moves played out in the closing stages. He told TeamSky.com: “It was a really tough day at the office. I felt quite alright, but it was quite a strange final. Nibali was strong, and as an Italian racing at Milan-San Remo it’s quite a big thing. When he went away and got the advantage, there were not really many movements in the peloton.”

“I was waiting in that moment for the steeper section of the Poggio. I tried twice to attack. I had Sagan directly on my wheel, and then I tried a second time. I was going nowhere with a really strong headwind, and I knew the advantage of Nibali was quite huge. In the end, I was counting that some sprinters’ teams would try to close it. I tried one more time to accelerate on the descent but that was quite risky, and straight away I was marked”.
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“It was a long and difficult race. I hope everyone is fine and I know Lukasz crashed. The team rode really well and I’m very thankful to everyone, especially to Luke who was pulling for a very long time. He was also helping us before the Tre Capi so it was a really impressive ride for him. We were there in the right place on the Cipressa and also there on the Poggio. We just missed the right move from Nibali, and with our sprint abilities of course it’s difficult to fight against those guys.”

Team Sky worked well to set a tempo in the first Monument Classic of the season. Continuing his remarkable comeback from injury, Luke Rowe helped represent the team at the front, with the day’s nine-man breakaway reeled in with 30km to go.

As the action reached the closing stages, Salvatore Puccio moved Kwiatkowski into position on the penultimate climb of the Cipressa, with Dylan van Baarle setting an impressive pace in a bid to thin out the group and nullify attacks. Kwiatkowski was forced to regain positions, with a large crash also stretching the peloton ahead of the final climb. Nibali made his move with 6.5km to go and would not be caught. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) came home in a tantalising second place, besting the bunch sprint ahead of Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ).

1. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) 7:18:43
2. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) s.t.
3. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)
4. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)
5. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal)

11. Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)

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