Milan-San Remo 2010: Spain's Freire takes it by the narrowest squeak

A dramatic sprint finish sealed top honours for Spain's Oscar Freire, who won the Milan-San Remo Classic by two bike lengths.

Freire (Rabobank) narrowly sneaked ahead of Belgium's Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Italy's Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) to win the race, his third such victory.

As he predicted, last year's winner Mark Cavendish (HTC Columbia) was out of form, while Team Sky's best-placed rider was Spain's Juan Antonio Flecha in 18th.

Fabrice Piemontesi (Androni Giocattoli), Aristide Ratti (Carmiooro NGC) and Diego Caccia (ISD) broke first and established a lead of more than 22 minutes in the opening 100km, but the lead was cut in two in the next 50km.

Yoann Offredo (Francaise des Jeux) forced the pace with 15km to go, but the pack were in hot pursuit and caught the French rider as they began climbing the Poggio.

The leaders descended into San Remo, with 2006 champion Filippo Pozzato attempting an early break inside the final 3,000m.

But the major players were all in contention in the final straight and Freire, the champion in 2004 and 2007, had the edge on the field at the crucial moment.

Top 30 Milan San Remo 2010

1) Óscar Freire            (ESP) Rabobank            (6:57:28) 

2) Tom Boonen              (BEL) QuickStep         (same time) 

3) Alessandro Petacchi     (ITA) Lampre            (same time)
4) Sacha Modolo            (ITA) ColnagoCSF        (same time) 

5) Daniele Bennati         (ITA) Liquigas          (same time) 

6) Thor Hushovd            (NOR) Cervélo           (same time) 

7) Francesco Ginanni       (ITA) Androni Giocattoli(same time) 

8) Maxim Iglinskiy         (KAZ) Astana            (same time) 

9) Philippe Gilbert        (BEL) Omega PharmaLotto (same time) 

10) Luca Paolini           (ITA) Acqua & Sapone    (same time) 

11) Matti Breschel         (DEN) Saxo Bank         (same time) 

12) Anthony Geslin         (FRA) Française des Jeux(same time) 

13) Enrico Gasparotto      (ITA) Astana            (same time) 

14) Geoffroy Lequatre      (FRA) RadioShack        (same time) 

15) Paul Martens           (GER) Rabobank          (same time) 

16) Yoann Offredo          (FRA) Française des Jeux(same time) 

17) Fabian Cancellara      (SUI) Saxo Bank         (same time) 

18) Juan Antonio Flecha    (ESP) Team Sky          (same time) 

19) Linus Gerdemann        (GER) Milram            (same time) 

20) Pablo Lastras          (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne  (same time) 

21) Sylvain Chavanel       (FRA) QuickStep         (same time) 

22) Markus Burghardt       (GER) BMC Racing Team   (same time) 

23) Daniel Oss             (ITA) Liquigas          (same time) 

24) Xavier Florencio       (ESP) Cervélo           (same time) 

25) Michael Rogers         (AUS) HTCColumbia       (same time) 

26) Andriy Grivko          (UKR) Astana                   (+9) 

27) Thomas Löfkvist        (SWE) Team Sky                 (+9) 

28) Vincenzo Nibali        (ITA) Liquigas                 (+9) 

29) Filippo Pozzato        (ITA) Katyusha                 (+18) 

30) Michele Scarponi       (ITA) Androni Giocattoli       (+21)