Riders set to face wet weather and testing conditions forecast at Milan-San Remo

Always at the mercy of the weather, the 2018 edition of Milan-San Remo looks like it will take place on wet roads with rain scheduled to hit northern Italy on Saturday and in the days leading up to the race.

Its early spring schedule means that Milan-San Remo is often his with bad weather, most memorably in 2013 when Gerard Ciolek emerged victorious at the end of a brutal race that saw the course shortened by more than 50km as heavy show hit the early stages of the race and saw some of the roads deemed impassable.

Thankfully for the riders there should be no repeat of those conditions, but they still look likely to face more than seven hours of riding and 298km in rainy conditions.

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The heaviest rain should be at the start in Milan, meaning riders staying on the team buses for as long as possible, as well as the long flat section across the Po valley in the first half of the race, before the climb up and descent down the Passo del Turchino to start the long stretch along the coast.

By this point in the race the rain is forecasted to have eased slightly, although the roads are still likely to be sodden with two days of rain expected on Thursday and Friday.

The wet roads could make the descent off the Cipressa important, although any riders that are able to get away may find their progress thwarted by the headwind along the coast on the exposed section towards the Poggio.

The forecast for the finish in San Remo is for showers, meaning the potential for the final descent and last few corners towards the finish on the Via Roma to be covered on wet and slick roads.