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Paolo Bettini acknowledging the crowd in Milan. Today's successful break off the Poggio would be the first since Bettini's MSR win in 2003. | 
Philippe Gilbert and others rolling to the start line. Gilbert's form was a big question mark coming into today's race. He crashed before the Poggio where he was expected to attack. | 
The start photo-op. A minute’s silence observed for Belgian school children at the start Milano-Sanremo |
Andrea Monti, the head man at sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, had the honor of dropping the (red!) start flag | 
Race favorite, world champion Mark Cavendish and the peloton rolling out for the neutral start + 298 km of racing. Cavendish was dropped with about 80 km to go. | 
The back of the bunch; one last trip to the toilet for the late starters before a long day in the saddle. |
The early break | 
The break approaching the Turchino Pass, just after Campo Ligure | 
Across the river, the photographer zooms in on (long time?) cycling fans watching the spectacle of the peloton passing by their home |
This shot is taken every year... never gets tiring | 
We are at the half way point in the 7 hour race. Time for another toilet break. | 
The half way point at Passo del Turchino |
Down on the coast for the final 100 km | 
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The break here led by Team Type 1 - Sanofi |
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Tom Boonen and three time past winner, Oscar Friere descending the technical Le Manie |
The eventual riders in the key three man break descending Le Manie | 
It's a treacherous descent especially in the rain. Video of La Manie descent in 2011 | 
This photo gives you an ideal of how quickly you need to get ready for the next switchback |
Serious crash at the base of Le Manie | 
Colombia Coldeportess' Carlos Julian Quintero Norena was knocked out, but shortly regained consciousness. Update: Quintero Thankful To Be Alright After Viewing San Remo Crash Footage | 
The expression says it all; Mark Cavendish's day didn't go very well either. Dropped on Le Manie and struggled the rest of the way. Later he tweeted "Race gets filed in my #worstdaysofmycareer list. Something was VERY wrong. No explanation, but I let down an incredible group." |
Johnny Hoogerland leading the way up the Cipressa | 
Liquigas at the front of the chase | 
Late addition to the startlist, Angel Madrazo (Movistar) off the front being reeled in a by determined Liquigas rider, Valerio Agnoli |
After Vincenzo Nibali's attack on the Poggio, Fabian Cancellara leads over the top. Simon Gerrans followed Nibali and Cancellara both times per team instructions. | 
Poggio descent with Fabian Cancellara leading the way with 5 km to go, followed by... | 
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), who started the winning move on the way up the Poggio, trailing Simon Gerrans (Greenedge) |
Cancellara taking inventory | 
The three men break and the dash for the line with 2.75 km to go | 
The remnants of the peloton chasing + 3s |
Fabian Cancellara did 99% of the work in the final 5 km of the race | 
Simon Gerrans knew that if he could hang onto Cancellara's wheel then he'd likely win the sprint... | 
Finish line panoramic |
Simon Gerrans played his cards right, winning ahead of "motorbike" Fabian Cancellara | 
Another angle on the finish and a good perspective on how it went for Liquigas. Nibali settled for 3rd while teammate Peter Sagan easily took the sprint for 4th... in other words, the Nibali attack on the Poggio didn't pan out ideally for Liquigas (video of the last 7 km). | 
Second year in a row Fabian Cancellara has been pipped by an Aussie (click for victory salute photo from last year) |
3rd Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) | 
2nd Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack), runner-up for the 2nd year in the row | 
1st Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) |
Simon Gerrans celebrating the biggest win of his career and for his new GreenEDGE team | 
Your 2012 Milan-San Remo podium | 
Podium panaoramic |
Podium celebration | 
Post race press conference | 
“Without question Fabian was the strongest, he was going like a motorbike. He followed Nibali and myself on the Poggio, drove it over the top and was the best descender.”“He drove the break to the finish. I gave him one turn but he passed me again. I was confident the break would make it to the finish and I knew what I had to do to finish off the job and win. Fabian was racing to win in the finale. He perhaps thought he had enough to finish it off but perhaps he underestimated me in the finale.” |
Gerrans should be pleased. His role today was to follow the attacks on the Poggio for teammate and last year's winner Matt Goss. He then played his cards perfectly in the break. As Vincenzo Nibali succinctly put it best, “Congratulations to Gerrans, both for the final sprint and for spotting the decisive attack.” |
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