Milano-Sanremo Donne

Milano-Sanremo Donne, which its organizer calls Sanremo Women, is a one-day bike race, the women's edition of the Monument, held each March from Genoa to Sanremo on the Italian Riviera. First raced in 1999 as the Primavera Rosa and revived in 2025 after a 20-year break, it shares the coastal finale of its counterpart but compresses the distance into a race that still demands nearly four hours of positioning and survival.

Milano-Sanremo Donne is the women’s version of the Italian spring classic, raced along the Ligurian coast from Genoa to Via Roma in Sanremo, over the Cipressa and the Poggio. The organizer, RCS Sport, calls it Sanremo Women. It was held as Primavera Rosa from 1999 to 2005 and came back in 2025.

Primavera Rosa: the seven editions from 1999 to 2005

Primavera Rosa means the pink spring. RCS Sport ran it seven times, on the same day as the men’s race, from Varazze to Via Roma. Its 118 kilometers took in Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta, then the Cipressa and the Poggio. The race was a round of the women’s World Cup, and the only Italian one besides the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

Sara Felloni won the first edition in a sprint ahead of Gabriella Pregnolato, and no Italian has won since. Diana Žiliūtė, Susanne Ljungskog and Mirjam Melchers won the next three. Zulfiya Zabirova won alone in 2003 and again in 2004, and Trixi Worrack won the last Primavera Rosa in 2005. Through 2026 Zabirova was the only rider to have won twice.

From Genoa to Via Roma: the 156-kilometer route

The race returned on March 22, 2025, after 20 years, and went straight onto the Women’s WorldTour calendar. The start moved east from Varazze to Genoa, which made the course 156 kilometers, with 1,334 meters of climbing. The men’s race that day was nearly 300 kilometers.

From Piazza della Vittoria the riders go past the Porto Antico and out through Sestri Ponente to the Aurelia, the coast road. At Voltri, after about 20 kilometers, they join the men’s route and follow it to the finish, through Varazze, Savona, Albenga and Imperia. The 2026 race used the same route.

The three Capi, the Cipressa and the Poggio

The Capi, three headlands on the coast road, come first: Capo Mele (1.9 kilometers at 4.2 percent), Capo Cervo (2 kilometers at 2.4 percent) and Capo Berta (1.9 kilometers at 6.7 percent). The Cipressa is 5.6 kilometers at 4.1 percent and ends in a technical descent back to the Aurelia. It has been part of the men’s race since 1982, and the Poggio since 1961.

The Poggio begins 9 kilometers from the finish. It is 3.7 kilometers long at just under 4 percent, with four hairpins in the first 2 kilometers and ramps of 8 percent near the top. The summit is 5.5 kilometers from the line. After the descent come 2 kilometers of straight city streets, a left turn at a roundabout 850 meters out and the last bend, onto Via Roma, at 750 meters.

Lorena Wiebes wins the 2025 return

Lorena Wiebes, the European champion, was among the first five over the top of the Poggio in 2025. At the bottom of the descent Elisa Longo Borghini attacked, with 2 kilometers to go, and opened a gap. Lotte Kopecky, the world champion, was riding her first race of the season, and she led the chase for her teammate Wiebes. “I remained confident because I know how strong Lotte Kopecky is,” Wiebes said.

Longo Borghini was still a few seconds ahead with one kilometer to go. Marianne Vos opened the sprint from sixth position, just inside the last 250 meters, and led as the group passed Longo Borghini. Wiebes came past Vos in the last ten meters, and Noemi Rüegg was third. Wiebes had covered the 156 kilometers in 3 hours 43 minutes 32 seconds.

Before the 2026 race Sanremo opened a Walk of Fame on the cycle path below Corso Imperatrice, in front of the casino, with the handprints of the 2025 winners, Wiebes and Mathieu van der Poel. Wiebes was the first woman to leave hers.

Lotte Kopecky wins from a group of five in 2026

A year later the two SD Worx-Protime riders swapped roles. “Actually, Lotte was the plan A. I was more of a plan B,” Wiebes said. Kasia Niewiadoma attacked on the Cipressa and cut the front group to about 20, then crashed on a blind corner of the descent while leading and took several riders down with her, Kim Le Court Pienaar among them.

Lieke Nooijen, who had slipped clear near the top of the Cipressa, was caught at the foot of the Poggio. Puck Pieterse attacked there. Kopecky and Rüegg went with her, and Eleonora Gasparrini and her teammate Dominika Włodarczyk came across. The five started the last 2.3 kilometers about 10 seconds ahead of the next group. Kopecky, twice a world champion, began her sprint with 200 meters to go and beat Rüegg, with Gasparrini third. Gasparrini was the first Italian on the podium since Felloni finished third in 2001. Wiebes won the sprint for sixth behind them, with an arm in the air for Kopecky.

This Monument can end in a sprint, but never a straightforward one. The Cipressa and Poggio both come in the last 22 kilometers, late enough to punish anyone who has already spent too much. What remains is a finale among riders who have the legs to survive and the timing to strike when it matters. Lorena Wiebes won the sprint in 2025 and Lotte Kopecky won from a five-rider group in 2026, and the earlier Primavera Rosa was also claimed by Trixi Worrack and Susanne Ljungskog, riders who could handle both the attrition and the acceleration.