Unless you’ve been living in a cave without internet access, you’ll know that the cycling season is good and truly under way. For me, though, this is the real start – the beginning of the Classics season, and the longest of them all, Milan-San Remo.

It’s an odd race for me to nail down. Often a sprinter wins it, like Matt Goss or Mark Cavendish; other times it’s a real Classics rider, like Fabian Cancellara or Simon Gerrans. Whoever wins it, though, needs to have the legs after 300 km of racing. I think that is the deciding factor more than anything else. 

The race is usually won on one of the last little climbs along the coast before San Remo, and more specifically on (or on the way down) the Poggio – the last climb – with only 3 km to go once you hit the bottom of the other side. 

My pick (and just about everyone else’s, I imagine) this year is Peter Sagan, who can sprint (just beat both Cavendish and Greipel last week) and also power up short climbs very, very quickly. He is also young and fearless and a joy to watch. Whoever wins La Primavera this year, I know I’ll be there, doing my LSD (Long Slow Distance, you bunch of hippies) ride on the trainer, watching it all.