Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) celebrates at finish line as race winner of Milan-San Remo Women 2025 ahead of Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Pauline Ferrand-Prèvot (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially finished fourth on the day but was later relegated to 12th place.
After a hectic descent from the Poggio, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) attacked right away and got a sizeable gap at first until Wiebes' teammate, world champion Lotte Kopecky went all-out in the chase.
Longo Borghini was a few seconds ahead at the flamme rouge, and Vos was first to launch her sprint, prompting Wiebes to react. As they passed Longo Borghini, Vos took the lead, but Wiebes had a last punch left, passing Vos in the final ten metres to win.
Asked if her victory had sunk in yet, Wiebes said in a post-race interview, "Not yet I think but I had to finish the teamwork off. I'm really grateful for the team how we worked as a team and what Lotte did in the final I'm super grateful for.
Wiebes said she felt good on the Cipressa, among the reduced group, and was able to stay with the top riders over the Poggio, too, and that is when she knew she could contest the final.
"I think there were multiple options but I felt that I did good on the Cipressa so also on the Poggio, I was with the first five or something at the top and then I knew I would ride for the win.
"Longo Borghini did a really strong attack but I saw Lotte was close behind and, as I said, the effort she made was amazing."
Wiebes also said she was not worried about the descent or the final kilometre where Longo Borghini made a surprise attack, knowing Kopecky was there to bring the Italian back into the fold in the final metres.
"No. I knew how strong Lotte is and she put me in the perfect position. I need to say Vos surprised me a little bit. I didn't want to open my sprint too early but it was enough for the win."
How it unfolded
Starting in Genoa, the 156-kilometre women’s race took place almost exclusively on the Via Aurelia, the Ligurian coastal road, with the climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio being the only exceptions.
Early attacks from Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels) and Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) were quickly reeled in again, and it was only when Knijnenburg attacked again after more than 60km that a breakaway was established.
Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Virginia Bortoli (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) formed a chase duo, and with 68km to go, they were a minute and 20 seconds behind Knijnenburg, with the peloton at 2:30 minutes.
A crash 54km from the line briefly held up Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), among others, but she easily returned to the peloton. Soon after, Tomasi and Bortoli were caught while Knijnenburg made it over the Capo Mele solo, only being reeled in after the descent, just inside the 50-kilometre mark.
SD Worx-Protime, Visma-Lease a Bike, Fenix-Deceunick, and FDJ-Suez set a high pace on the Capo Cervo and Capo Berta, reducing the peloton, but none of the favourites were in difficulty yet. A crash near the front of the pack with 30.5km to go took down a.o. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kopecky and held up Wiebes, temporarily fracturing the peloton in the run-in to the Cipressa.
After a hectic chase, most crashed riders returned to the front ahead of the Cipressa, and about sixty riders started the longest climb of the day together. Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) and Loes Adegeest (FDJ-Suez) set a hard pace on the first half of the 5.6km climb. When they swung off, Lidl-Trek took control, reducing the speed to protect Balsamo.
Ferrand-Prévot went into the descent first and stretched out the peloton, leading to a group of 13 riders having a gap at the bottom that included Longo Borghini, Kopecky, Wiebes, Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime), Demi Vollering, Juliette Labous (both FDJ-Suez), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), Balsamo, Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), and Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco). Only Vas and Kopecky wanted to keep the group going, though, and things came back together with 15km to go.
Following another fast run-in, 21 riders entered the Poggio together. Vas briefly set the pace, then Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) came to the front and went to work with her team’s leader Niewiadoma slotting in behind her.
Labous made her move about a kilometre from the top, prompting counterattacks by Niewiadoma and Le Court, but none of them could shake off the rest of the favourites. When Vollering attacked just before the top, it was more to get a good position for the descent than anything else.
Vollering led the race down most of the descent with riders in single file behind her. Pieterse took over on the last bit, and when they had reached the bottom of the descent, Longo Borghini immediately launched her all-or-nothing attack. The Italian champion quickly gained a gap, but Kopecky went to the front of the 12-rider chase group almost as quickly and started to chase in service of her teammate Wiebes.
After the 250-metre mark, with Kopecky still about ten metres behind Longo Borghini, Vos launched her sprint from sixth position, anticipating Wiebes. Because of the head start, Vos took the lead, but Wiebes was still winding up her sprint and came past on the last metres to take the victory.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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