Last year's return of the women's version of Milan-San Remo, after a 20-year absence, was a rowdy rush of a dozen usual suspects for the 5.4-kilometre finale from the top of the Poggio to the line on Via Roma.
A surprise attack was made by Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), but sprinters ruled the day with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) punching past Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the final 10 metres for the win.
A first glance at this year's Monument reveals a replica of the 2025 course, the same 156.9 kilometres hugging the Mediterranean coast from Genoa to San Remo. The pair of climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio propel the action in the final 30km. Factoring in the start list full of puncheurs, sprinters and powerful one-day riders, there may be a different blueprint about to unfold in this year’s race.
Will podium spots be filled by sprinters Wiebes and Vos again? They both return as well as a cavalcade of challengers, while top finishers Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) will be absent. The final start lists were still to be released by teams at the time of this writing, so we look at the riders we expect to contend for the first women's Monument of the season.
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)
The Italian champion looked to be on her way to victory last year on Via Roma when she launched a solo attack at the bottom of the Poggio. A clear view of the finish line vanished with just 250 metres remaining, as Longo Borghini was swept away by a swarm of riders, led by Vos and then eventual winner Wiebes, to finish 11th. She will lead the UAE Team ADQ squad on a quest for a fourth career Monument win.
Longo Borghini fell one spot short of the podium at Strade Bianche to begin her Italian Classics campaign, but the following day made a statement by winning Trofeo Oro in Euro. She started the year with a victory on the Queen stage at the UAE Tour, which secured her second career GC title at that race. Experience and racing on home soil give her an edge if she can escape the sprinters.
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek)
Former world champion Elisa Balsamo is looking for her first victory of the season, and she's motivated to make that happen on home soil. She was the top Lidl-Trek rider at Omloop Nieuwsblad to start the Classics season, however that was in 18th.
She changed up her programme this year by racing in Spain, skipping Trofeo Alfredo Binda where she won last year. Balsamo took second on a punchy stage 2 at Vuelta a Extremadura to show the legs were coming around.
At San Remo last year she finished in the bunch finish in seventh, so look for her show her love for one-day races and make a statement in Italy.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime)
The defending champion of the women's reinstated Milan-San Remo is always a contender with a flat finish, but she has stated a repeat for this Spring Classic is "not a must-have". What does that mean exactly? It means she may work for teammate Lotte Kopecky this time, as they look to share success in order to deposit more victories in the account for the team.
Wiebes has been by far the fastest rider in the peloton for several seasons, and this year already has three stage wins from UAE Tour Women, a victory at the 1.Pro-level Leeuw-Oetingen and third at Omloop Nieuwsblad.
She stated earlier this spring that Amstel Gold Race was a big goal as well as opening stages of the Giro d'Italia. Race day situations are unpredictable, but SD Worx goes in with formidable options with Wiebes and Kopecky.
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike)
The ever-threatening Marianne Vos returns in a quest to add just a second Monument to her expansive palmares, having won Tour of Flanders in 2013. She proved last year that the late climbs weren't too menacing and the technical run into San Remo was suited to her finishing speed, as long as she can hold off a rival like Wiebes.
Vos started her 21st season in Italy, going seventh at Strade Bianche and sixth at Trofeo Alfredo Binda. She's the team's leader should the race unfold again with a bunch sprint.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
Lotte Kopecky returned to her winning ways at the Wednesday's Nokere Koerse, adding the Belgian race to her calendar between Italian races. She didn't factor into top results at Omloop Nieuwsblad or Strade Bianche, but found a spark to finish seventh at Trofeo Alfredo Binda.
Always aggressive and hungry to hit top form at Spring Classics, Kopecky made the trip to the mid-week one-day race to gain confidence headed into Milan-San Remo.
Last year the two-time World Champion ultimately positioned her teammate Wiebes for the win. With a victory notched in Belgium, her third at Nokere Koerse, she may be the SD Worx rider to go for glory this time on Via Roma.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
The Polish road champion enters the race motivated by two podiums in her first pair of Classic races this season, but she has stated "it's not victory". So far this season Niewiadoma-Phinney was runner-up twice, to Demi Vollering at Omloop Nieuwsblad and against Elise Chabbey at Strade Bianche. She's not just primed for her first win of the year, but her first win since taking the road Polish title nine months ago.
She's up for a repeat challenge across the Poggio, where she attacked last year. However, the 3.7km climb at just 3.7% was not tough enough for her to hold a gap and she trailed in 15th position behind a charge of sprinters.
Without teammate Chloé Dygert on the team's start list this time, the team's top performer last year in sixth, Niewiadoma-Phinney will get support from Italian Chiara Consonni.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech)
The multi-discipline Dutch rider is still just 23, but in two full seasons at the Women's WorldTour has firmly stamped a signature of consistency on the road, especially in one-day races. In 2024, she landed podiums at Ronde van Drenthe and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and last year, she stormed to her first Classics title at La Flèche Wallonne and second place at Lièege-Bastogne-Liège, while taking top 10s at nine other spring races, including Milano-San Remo.
While she used her winter to focus on cyclo-cross, winning bronze in the elite women's race at the World Championships, Pieterse has had a solid start with three Italian races so far and looked strong with a sixth-place finish at Strade Bianche.
Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ)
The Dutch rider is off to a stellar start in 2026, with wins at Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx and Trofeo Alfredo Binda. In fact, in seven one-day races so far this spring, she's finished sixth or better in all but one of those races, with a sixth place at Omloop Nieuwsblad. It's a tough call to say she would grab the glory ahead of teammate Borghini on Saturday, but she's on form and gives the team options.
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