Grand Tours take three weeks. A Monument takes one day. That is the whole appeal. There is no tomorrow to recover, no general classification to protect, and no second chance if a tire goes flat on the wrong stretch of road. The strongest rider on the day usually wins, and the day is long.
Cycling recognizes five races as Monuments. Each is more than a hundred years old, each runs longer than 250 kilometers, and each has a character of its own. Here is how they differ, and why people who love the sport plan their spring and autumn around them.
Milano-Sanremo: the patient one
First run in 1907, Milano-Sanremo opens the Monument season in March. At close to 300 kilometers it is the longest one-day race on the professional calendar, and for most of its length very little happens. The race is decided in the final hour, on two short climbs above the Ligurian coast, the Cipressa and the Poggio, before the descent into Sanremo and the finish on the Via Roma.
Sprinters can win it. So can attackers who time a move on the Poggio. That uncertainty is why people call it the easiest race to finish and the hardest to win.
Tour of Flanders: the crowd's race
The Ronde van Vlaanderen, first held in 1913, is Belgium's national holiday on two wheels. It runs in early April over short, steep hills, many of them cobbled, through the Flemish Ardennes. Fans stand on the same climbs their grandparents stood on. The Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg usually decide the race in its final hour before the finish in Oudenaarde.
We wrote a closer look at the climbs that shape the Tour of Flanders.
Paris-Roubaix: the Hell of the North
Paris-Roubaix dates to 1896 and runs a week after Flanders. It is flat, which sounds easy until you see the roads: dozens of sectors of old farm cobbles, rated by difficulty, some of them barely wide enough for a tractor. The winner finishes on the outdoor velodrome in Roubaix and receives a cobblestone as a trophy.
More on the race in Paris-Roubaix: why the Hell of the North still matters.
See the L'Enfer du Nord design
Liège-Bastogne-Liège: the oldest
They call it La Doyenne, the old lady, because it is the oldest of the five. The first edition ran in 1892. Liège-Bastogne-Liège closes the spring classics in late April with a long loop through the Belgian Ardennes, where the climbs are longer than in Flanders and the race wears riders down rather than knocking them out. La Redoute and the Roche-aux-Faucons are the names to know.
Il Lombardia: the race of the falling leaves
Il Lombardia, first run in 1905, ends the Monument year in October, in the hills around Lake Como. It is a climber's race, often the last real chance of the season for a big win. The route usually passes the Madonna del Ghisallo, a small hilltop chapel dedicated to the patron saint of cyclists, where riders and fans leave jerseys, bikes, and photographs.
And one more: Strade Bianche
Strade Bianche is not officially a Monument. It was only first run in 2007. But its white gravel roads through Tuscany and its finish in Siena's Piazza del Campo earned it a following so quickly that many fans now call it the sixth Monument. It opens the European classics season in early March.
The calendar at a glance
- Early March: Strade Bianche
- Mid to late March: Milano-Sanremo
- Early April: Tour of Flanders
- One week later: Paris-Roubaix
- Late April: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- October: Il Lombardia
Exact dates shift a little each year, so check the organizers' calendars once the new season is announced.
Why we made a collection about them
The Monuments are about places as much as racing: a chapel on a hill, a forest road in northern France, a café on a Flemish climb. Our Velo collection includes a design for each race, independently created to celebrate the history and landscape of each one. They each have minimalists designs that are made for those familiar with the climbs, each of the main cobbled sectors and where the decisive race winning moves are likely to occur, and for those who are just starting to care.