The keenly anticipated return of the women's Milan-San Remo is set to become reality in 2025, after one of the main obstacles, a potential clash of dates with the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, has reportedly been resolved.
As revealed by the Tuttobiciweb podcast in an interview with Paolo Bellino, CEO of organisers RCS, the women's Milan-San Remo will be held next year - on March 22, the same day as the men's race.
The new race is due to be confirmed later this week, when full calendars for 2025 are released by the UCI during the ongoing Road World Championships in Zurich.
"We're working on an important 2025 season because we've added the women's Milan-San Remo to the calendar. We're also working to grow the presence of women in all our major races, beyond what we already have at Strade Bianche," Bellino told the podcast.
"I'm hugely satisfied with the outcome of the Giro d'Italia Women" - which RCS began organising this year - "and it's a pity we didn't get to work on the project sooner."
"The important thing is to work seriously on these projects. Women's cycling has huge potential but it has not yet reached its full potential."
A women's version of Milan-San Remo dubbed Primavera Rosa was held from 1999 to 2005, following the final 118km of the men's race and including two of its most emblematic ascents, the Cipressa and Poggio.
Rumours that the women's race, whose definitive new name has yet to be revealed, could be revived for 2024 did briefly emerge, but they were never confirmed.
Finally, though, in 2025 Milan-San Remo will become the fourth of the five Monuments - alongside the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège - to have a women's race.
One of the biggest complications for the event's return was a date clash with Trofeo Alfredo Binda, which currently takes place a day later than the men's Milan-San Remo.
The long-established WorldTour race, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, is held in Cittiglio, near Lake Maggiore, more than 300km north of San Remo.
The teams were apparently consulted by the UCI about racing Milan-San Remo and Trofeo Alfredo Binda on the same weekend, with race times tweaked to help teams travel between the two races on Saturday evening.
The initial edition of the women's Milan-San Remo will not become Italy's third WorldTour one-day race, unlike Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, although Cyclingnews understands that is a mid-term goal for RCS Sport.
Just like its distant predecessor, the Primavera Rosa, the women's Milan-San Remo is widely predicted to follow the final part of the men's race, winding along the Ligurian coastline, with the Cipressa and Poggio preceding a finale on San Remo's Via Roma.
However, it remains unclear whether the women's race might start in the coastal city of Genoa or - as was suggested by Bellino in 2023 - a little further west, in the town of Arenzano.
Bellino also confirmed to Tuttobiciweb that the 2025 Giro d'Italia Women will be presented on October 11, the day before this year's Il Lombardia men's race. However, there is currently no indication of when - or indeed if - a women's Il Lombardia will ever be created.
The route of the 2025 men's Giro d'Italia is expected to be revealed in Rome on November 15, with Albania now likely to host the Grande Partenza.
