Upon its inception, Milan-San Remo was conceived as a straightforward line from Milan, the industrial heart of Northern Italy, to San Remo, the fashionable seaside resort on the Italian Riviera with its trademark Belle Epoque villas. The race starts on the Piazza del Duomo in the heart of Milan and immediately heads to the southwest, over the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont, along the cities of Pavia, Voghera, Tortona, Novi Ligure and Ovada. As the race enters Liguria, the peloton addresses the Passo del Turchino, the first climb of the day, after 140 km.