Puck Pieterse flies up Poggio at 29.7 kph in recon to set fastest Strava time this year

When it comes to hotly-contested Strava segments, the Cipressa and Poggio are two of the most competitive examples, with the race pace in the men’s Milan-San Remo ensuring that searing new KOMs are set every March.

But while the men’s best times may be all dominated by times from last year’s race, the women’s leaderboards for the two climbs after a week of Milan-San Remo Women recons can tell us a lot about who is firing in recons, with two threatening riders recording the best 2025 times.

Fenix-Deceuninck’s Puck Pieterse flew up the Poggio on Wednesday to set a time of 7:17, the fastest of the year so far – and the week where every WorldTour rider has been reconning in San Remo – and second-fastest of all time. She recorded a speed of 29.7 kph, on a training ride, with speeds well in excess of that expected in the race – confirming her spot as a favourite for Milan-San Remo Women.

Local pro Ilaria Sanguineti (Lidl-Trek) still holds the QOM, 7:07 set back in 2017, but the Ligurian native hasn’t earned a call-up for Saturday, so Pieterse is the fastest of the riders who will be in contention come race day.

The leaderboard also shows one ominous name in the top times: Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime). Even though the Dutch sprinter is widely expected to play second fiddle to Lotte Kopecky at the weekend, she’s ridden the final part of the race route no fewer than four times already, every day this week, and on Tuesday she completed the Poggio in 7:25, fourth fastest in the all-time leaderboard.

Wiebes going over the final climb at such a pace bodes well for her chances on Saturday, with the 26-year-old a clear favourite to sprint to victory if she makes it to the Via Roma in the front group.

Looking at the longer Cipressa, it’s AG Insurance-Soudal’s Justine Ghekiere who has set the fastest time this week, stopping the clock at 13:02. She’s part of a strong line-up racing La Primavera, and could be one of the climbers looking to make things as hard as possible on Saturday.

Other notable segment times include Chloé Dygert’s 13:38 Cipressa ascent, and Elisa Longo Borghini’s 7:40 Poggio effort, whilst Uno-X dark horse Katrine Aalerud set a top-four time on both climbs.

On the men’s side, the Poggio record stands at 5:31, jointly held by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) set when the peloton flew up the climb at 39.2 kph in the 2024 race.

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) holds the Cipressa KOM with a time of 9:27, also from last year’s race, with the 2025 edition set to see new records set with the peloton getting faster every year.

As for who has been going fastest in 2025 training rides, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale have really been attacking the climbs, with Victor Lafay holding the best Poggio time for 2025 (6:24), with his teammates taking up spots two to four, and on the Cipressa Oliver Naesen and Pierre Gautherat set the joint best time of 10:40 on Thursday.