The Whimsical Guide to Milan-Sanremo

Listen to part one of our new Kilometre 0 series for Friends of the Podcast

by Lionel Birnie

This edition of the Whimsical Guide comes largely in the form of a new four-part travelogue series for Friends of the Podcast subscribers. Last March, Simon Gill and I drove The Cycling Podcast’s Broomwagon down to the Ligurian coast in search of the soul of Sanremo.

We rode the course – well, a third of it, anyway – from Savona to Sanremo, taking in the tre capi – the Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta – the Cipressa and, of course, the Poggio. We met up with Italian-based journalist (and the owner of a truly jaw-dropping array of race-worn woollen jerseys from the 1960s and 1970s) Herbie Sykes, and we spent race day on the Poggio, soaking up the atmosphere and the watery spring sun’s rays.

You may remember Simon’s stunning photograph of race winner Mathieu van der Poel on the descent of the Poggio, which you can still buy as a beautiful print here.

You can also read about our day on the Poggio in last year’s 11.01 Cappuccino below, but what you won’t know, because I didn’t mention it at the time, is that Simon and I had a minor falling-out on the morning of the race because he wanted to try to see the race in multiple locations and I thought it was too risky to try to chase the peloton along the coast. I didn’t write about it a year ago because it was still too raw, but we’re over it now and everything is fine, so I can give you a belated glimpse behind the curtain.

We’d headed to the casino in Sanremo – which was acting as the race headquarters and press room – early, in order to collect our accreditation, but the officials from race organisers RCS weren’t ready for us and said that our passes were still in Milan and wouldn’t arrive until lunchtime. I was already nervous that we might not be able to drive up to the top of the Poggio if we waited too long. I was also grumpy because we’d not managed to get any breakfast – not even a cappuccino.

I could tell Simon wasn’t keen on basing ourselves on the Poggio all day. He wanted to go much further up the coast to see the peloton in full flight and take a chance we’d be able to get to the top of the Poggio in time. So there was a near-silent stand-off while neither of us articulated clearly what we wanted to do and an awkward atmosphere developed. It was like family arguing in front of strangers until Herbie finally broke the tension by saying, ‘Is this all going in the podcast?’ (No, Herbie. No it’s not). He wisely suggested we get something to eat and a coffee. By dint of refusing to change my mind, I won the battle and we headed to the Poggio with just the five-and-three-quarter hours to wait until the riders arrived. See, I told you we were cutting it fine.

We had a great afternoon, though, listening to Herbie’s tales of Italian cycling history, watching the crowd gather. We met a pair of brothers in Eddy Merckx-era Molteni jerseys. It turned out they’d worked for years at the Molteni salami factory near Milan and talked about the times Merckx used to visit. We had lunch at a pizzeria near the famous bend at the top of the Poggio, just before the riders plummet down into Sanremo, brushing the greenhouses as they go.

By the way, news reaches me from very good friend of the podcast Alessio Punzi, who lent us his apartment a stone’s throw from the Via Roma for the weekend, that the most famous phone box in cycling is no more. It used to sit overlooking the famous bend in the road but it was removed over the winter.

Anyway, here we are, almost on the eve of ‘the best ten minutes of the cycling season’ – copyright, Daniel Friebe – so what better way to get into the mood for the opening monument of 2024 than by immersing yourself in our new four-part Kilometre 0 series from last year’s race. Alternatively, listen to it on Saturday. If you press play on episode one as they leave the neutralised zone, they will be approaching the Turchino by the time you’ve finished listening to all four episodes.

‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for…?’ Lionel in what was the most famous phone box in cycling. Photo by Simon Gill.

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Classicissima – Springtime in Sanremo, part one

You can listen to the opening part of Classicissima – Springtime in Sanremo here. A big thanks to Herbie Sykes for joining us for the weekend, and to Tom Whalley for producing the series. Friends of the Podcast subscribers will find all four parts in their feeds now, along with more than 100 previous Friends of the Podcast episodes.

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Arrivée returns for the Spring Classics on Saturday

Arrivée – our Classic reaction show – returns on Saturday with a post-podium ceremony recap of how Milan-Sanremo was won. There will then be episodes covering the men’s and women’s Classics throughout the spring. A big thank-you to our friends at buycycle for sponsoring our Arrivée series and enabling Daniel to spend a few days in Sanremo enjoying afternoon cappuccini waiting for the race to come crashing along the coast towards him. Arrivée will drop on Saturday evening around the time the barriers in the Via Roma are being dismantled and the road is reopened to scooters and Fiat 500s.

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The Spartan Classic – sponsor Lionel’s next ride

I’m getting back on my bike next month for a whimsical ride to raise money for a charity that has given our family a lot of support over the past 18 months. So, I hope you’ll forgive the personal appeal and yet another football reference.

Between April 17 and 20, I’ll be riding a classic-worthy 301 kilometres from my local grassroots football club Harpenden Town to each of the grounds in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division. Think of it as a sequel to the Tour d’Écosse. Over the years, the club has supported the Rennie Grove Hospice in St Albans. Rennie Grove gave my Mum a lot of support when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and there were times during her chemotherapy and recovery when the comfort of day spent with other people going through the same thing provided just the right balance of distraction, diversion and

The ride will take me from Hertfordshire to the edge of north London, then up to the Herts-Essex border before looping back round to Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire before arriving for the final game of the season between Dunstable Town and Harpenden Town on Saturday, April 20.

Keep an eye out nearer the time for more details – especially if you fancy joining me for a few kilometres – but in the meantime if you can afford to donate to the Rennie Grove charity I have set up a Go Fund Me. (The money goes straight to Rennie Grove).

Shooting the Tour

You may remember last July, we released an episode of Kilometre 0 about the making of a film called Enter the Slipstream, which followed the EF Education team during the lockdown Tour de France.

US viewers have been able to watch the film on Apple TV, Peacock and Amazon Prime since last summer but now there’s a UK distribution deal too. If you’re in the UK and want to watch the film it’s on Apple TV, Google Play and Amazon Prime. You can find links to all available platforms here.

The film, which features The Cycling Podcast’s Richard Moore and François Thomazeau, is well worth a watch. The making of the film was complicated by the pandemic and all the travel restrictions around the 2020 Tour de France, as director Ted Youngs, story producer Alexis Steinman and producer Matt Rogers explained in our episode of Kilometre 0.