Michal Kwiatkowski from Team Sky wins Milan-San Remo

Kwiatkowski outguns Alaphilippe and Sagan in final sprint after Sagan attacked at the top of the Poggio

Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky won the 2017 edition of Milano-Sanremo. Peter Sagan finished second ahead of Julian Alaphilippe in a very close final sprint.

A breakway formed from the gun including; Mattia Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli), Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani CSF), Toms Skujins and William Clarke (Cannondale), Ivan Rovny (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Umberto Poli (Novo Nordisk), Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Wilier-Selle Italia), Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale) and Federico Zurlo (UAE Team Emirates)  and go an advantage of over 4 minutes.

The peloton seemed uninterested in the breakaway and the over all speed of the peloton was reletively slow for the first 3 hours of racing.

The gap came down as the Peloton increased the pace,  with 50 kilometres to go it was down to around 1 minute 30 seconds.

The break was caught just after the start of the Cipressa as the favorites teams, upped the speed to ver 60 kph.

Mark Cavendish was seen being brought to the front by Dimension Data to be in contention after the climb but to no avail. Cavendish was dropped before the top. The peloton was shattered at this point with only around 30 riders left in contention.

Tom Dumoulin was determined to shake off some of the top sprinters as the Sunweb rider set a high pace on the Poggio, the last climb of the day.

The moment the Dutchman gave up, Peter Sagan put in a massive attack just before the top of the Poggio and only Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) and Kwiatkowski could follow.

The gaps quickly opened up to 18 seconds as the Peloton struggled top cope with the attack and organize a chase.

Sagan was a marked man and neither Alaphilippe or Kwiatkowski would put in a turn in the final kilometer.

With the bunch closing down, Sagan had no choice but top open uo the sprint and gap a gap but Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski closed it down and Kwiatkowski just edged ahead of Sagan on the line.

A fitting win for Kwiatkowski after 2nd place in 2013.

2017 Milan-San Remo Top 10

1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 7:08:39 
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe   
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors   
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:05 
5 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors   
6 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ   
7 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo   
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits   
9 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky   
10 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott

VIDEO: 2017 Milan San Remo Final 20 Kilometres

2017 Milano-SanRemo LIVESTREAM

Automatically updates every 30 seconds with LIVE updates from the race.

LIVE VIDEO ABOVE AT: 05:15 PST 08:15 EST, 13:15 GMT, 15:15 CET

Sunday March 18th 2017 - Milano to SanRemo, 291km 

17:36 CET: Kwiatkowski! on the podium with Sagan and Alaphilippe.

17:23 CET: Makes up for 2013 for Kwiatkowski! Top 10 results for 2017 Milano-San Remo.

17:20 CET: Sagan attacked at the top of Poggio and opend up a gap of 18 seconds on the peloton, only Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski could follow. 

In the final sprint Kwiatkowski just edged forward to win.

17:15 CET: Kwiatkowski wins 2017 Milan-San Remo!

17:14 CET 2 kms to go Sagan, Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski. Gap has grown.

17:11 CET: Sagan, Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski, 4kms to go, 11 seconds. Is this the final selection?

17:10: CET Sagan first over the Poggio and is on the descent! Cobrelli is chasing.

17:09 CET: Dumoulin finally pulls over as the race closes in on the top of the Poggio. 

17:07 CET: Viviani looks in great form. Sagan, Kristoff still there after 7 hours of racing.

17:06 CET: Dumoulin still forcing things but he can't seem to drop anyone at the moment. 

17:05 CET: Demare, Degenkolb, Gaviria, Sagan all there at the bottom of the Poggio. 7kms climb!

17:01 CET: Tom Boonen is on the front for Quickstep-Floors, they have lots of options. Gavria moves up to the front.

16:57 CET: LIVE VIDEO BACK!, please click here to refresh and press play! Enjoy!

16:51 CET: The bunch splits again and it looks like Cavendish is in trouble. He is right at the back of the bunch. Dumoulin takes over Geschke. 

16:49 CET:  Mark cavendish dropped on the Cipressa!

16:45 CET: Mattia Cattaneo has gone with Wellens. Behind them, Oss and Arndt are sitting on the front of the bunch and clawing their way back to the two leaders. 

16:43 CET: Greg Van Avermaet, Wellens and Gilbert have attacked, the Peloton are chasing.

16:42 CET: Break caught on the Cipressa, the Peloton is starting to splinter as the pace increases.

16:40 CET: The Sprinters team are increasing the pace, only 15s to the break. Cavendish is being brought to the front.

16:37 CET: Here we go! We're on the slopes of the penultimate climb of the Cipressa, Bahrain Merida leading the chase, only 29s for the break.

16:33 CET: 6kms until the break gets to the Cipressa.

16:38 CET: Fireworks! - not from the riders just yet, but the Italian fans!

16:26 CET: Poli and Frappotti dropped from the break as the distance starts to hurt.

16:24 CET: 10kms until the break gets to the Cipressa.

16:21 CET:  Alexis Gougeard has attacked the Peloton. 42 kms to go.

16:09 CET: Here we go, the break has reached the first of 3 small successive climbs, first up the on the Capo Mele.

16:07 CET:  1'33" advantage left for the 10 leaders at the bottom of the Capo Mele.

15:57 CET: Over 1,600 people from all over the world, tuned into our live coverage, such is the popularity of Milan-San Remo!

15:49 CET: The Cipressa could see a lot of drama, last year Michael Matthews and Arnaud Demare  crashed at the base of the climb. Following the race a row erupted about whether or not Demare had held onto a race vehicle after the crash. Whatever the truth was, Demare kept his victory, the biggest of his career. 

15:45 CET: After the Capo Mele, the Capo Cervo and then the Capo Berta. It's here that the first small selection will be made. Provided they don't make any big mistakes, all the big names should make it through there to battle on the Cipressa and the Poggio.

Thus far, there has been just one climb but with 76km to go the leaders are fast approaching the lumpy finale with the three Capos. The first of them, the Capo Mele comes up with just under 60km to go. 

15:32 CET: FDJ, Bora, Quickstep-Floors and Dimension Data are doing most of the work in the Peloton - 52 kph.

15:24 CET: Epic views from today's race. 88 km to go. This is gonna be Epic!

15:08 CET: Peter Sagan looks in real good form. I wonder where he will attack later on today?

14: 54 CET: The climbs are coming 109 kms to go and the break has 4m 38s. 

14:47 CET:  10 riders have 5m 9s as the most important part of the race approaches with 115 km to go!

14:44 CET: William Bonnet pulls off the front and Mikael Delage takes up the pace setting for FDJ.

14:37 CET: Trek-Segafredo are working at the front of the Peloton. Breakaway still sround 4 minutes advantage.

14:36 CET: Ahead of the race, Mark Cavendish admitted that he wasn't in the best of form. He's been hampered by illness in recent weeks.

14:23 CET: LIVE VIDEO AVAILABLE ABOVE, please click here to refresh and press play! Enjoy!

14:16 CET: LIVE VIDEO should be available shortly, we'll update you here!

14:07 CET: Elia Viviani from Team Sky may be one to watch today as has been preparing for this race all year. 

13:59 CET: The gap between the peloton and the 10-man breakaway is now 4:40 minutes. 150 km to go.

13:32 the Passo del Turchino is by far the longest climb on today's route: 25.8 km.

13:25 CET: Riders are reaching the base of the first climb of the Passo Del Turchino. LIVE video in 45 minutes.

13:19 CET: Three hours of racing complete and the average has dropped due to the strong headwind. Average speed 38 kph.

13:16 CET: All the big sprinters here are today: Cavendish, Kristoff, Degenkolb, Sagan, Matthews, Colbrelli, Demare, Swift, Viviani, Gaviria, Bouhanni

13:00 CET: We will have LIVE video at 14:15 CET, in just over an hours time before the riders hit the Cipressa and Poggio. Don't miss this epic showdown!

11:57 CET: After more than 100 kilometres of racing complete and the breakaway has just four minutes advantage.

Teams including Bora-Hansgrohe, FDJ and Quick-Step Floors are working hard in the Peloton. There's a headwind which won't suit the breakaway.

11:25 CET: There are six former winners in the race today Arnaud Demare, John Degenkolb and Alexander Kristoff, Mark Cavendish, Filippo Pozzato and Simon Gerrans.

None of them have ever won it a second time!

11:21 CET: 10 riders in the break away are: Mattia Frapporti, Alan Marangoni, Mirco Maestri, Toms Skujins, Ivan Rovny, Umberto Poli, Julen Amezqueta Moreno, Nico Denz, Federico Zurlo, William Clarke

11:17 CET: A move of 10 riders went immediately after the flag dropped. Gap went out to over 4 minutes, but the Peloton is keeping them in check.

12:10 CET: All ready at the finish for todays epic race. 

12:08 CET: Still over 200km to go and the gap has dropped back down four minutes. 

12:05 CET: Tom Boonen Sigining on this morning for Milan-SanRemo

11:49 CET: The breakaway is working fairly well together for now. After 50k, they have nudged the advantage out to 4:42.

11:41 CET: The gap continues to remain around the four-minute mark for the 10 escapees. Even though there is still well over 200km to go, the peloton is not letting them get too big of a gap.

11:30 CET The riders have been racing for an hour with an average speed of 41.5kph. Quick-Step has moved up to help out FDJ on the front, sending up Julian Vermote to do a bit of work. 

11:25 CET The gap to the breakaway is now 4:30 minutes. Our riders stay well-protected in the peloton. Still 250 km to go.

Milano-Sanremo by NamedSport has been part of Italian popular culture since 1907. It is indelibly linked to some of the great moments in 20th century Italian history. For instance, the 1946 Milano-Sanremo took place the day after King Victor Emmanuel III, compromised by his earlier support of Mussolini to play any part in post-war Italian politics, announced his intention to abdicate. 24 hours later, Fausto Coppi, that giant of Italian sporting history, launched a 150km solo attack that led to victory in the 37th Milano-Sanremo by no less than 14 minutes.

Given the huge period of time before the arrival of the second-placed rider, the radio commentator Niccolò Carosio fell back on a time-honoured broadcaster’s ruse, introduced by this immortal piece of sports commentary: “First across the line, Fausto Coppi. And now, while we wait for the other riders to finish, here is some light music!” In the collective memory, the birth of the modern Italian Republic is intimately associated with Fausto Coppi’s extraordinary performance that day.

Record wins: The record-holder for Milano-Sanremo wins is Eddy Merckx, who won seven editions of the race (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976).

Last winner wearing the Rainbow jersey: the last UCI Road Race World Champion who won in Sanremo wearing the Rainbow jersey was Giuseppe Saronni in 1983.