| The 1964 Milan San
Remo |
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Thursday 19 March 1964
Starters: 232
Classified: 138
Distance: 287 km
Average speed: 43.420 km/hour
Weather conditions: Fresh with grey skies
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The 55th Milan-San Remo was won by Tom
Simpson, the first and only victory to date by a British rider.
Simpson, riding for the Peugeot-BP-Englebert team, was part of the
decisive four-man break that went away on the Capo Berta with about 32
kilometres to the finish. An earlier attack just before the start of
the capi by the new idol of the Italian tifosi, Italo Zilioli
(Carpano), had come to nothing.
The 1961 Sanremo winner, Frenchman Raymond Poulidor
(Mercier-BP-Hutchinson) instigated the move on the Capo Berta taking
Simpson, the Belgian Willy Bocklandt (Flandria- Roméo) and an
unknown rider from the Cite team (named as Italo Zilioli in some
articles but not possible as Zilioli rode for Carpano with their
distinctive black and white striped jerseys). Willy Bocklandt would go
on to take the Liege-Bastogne-Liege a few weeks later.
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The four man break - Simpson leads
followed by Bocklandt, unknown Cite rider and Poulidor.
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Left - The pace set by Raymond Poulidor
sees the Cite ride struggling at the back and he is soon dropped.
Centre - the break is down to three with Poulidor still setting the
pace. Right - On the Poggio - Willy Bocklandt is unable to maintain the pace leaving Simpson and
Poulidor to battle it out.
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Tom Simpson out-sprints
Raymond Poulidor on the via Roma to win
the 1964 Milan-San Remo. Poulidor lives up to his nickname as
the "eternal second". Willy Bocklandt would arrive 61 seconds later to
take third.
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Rik Van Looy, wearing the Belgian
champions jersey, takes the sprint for fourth
place. Rudi Altig had finished three seconds earlier but was
de-classified for an irregular wheel change.
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