Milan-San Remo is just around the corner as the first monument of 2020, and one rider who is looking forward to its arrival is Philippe Gilbert.

Gilbert, from Belgium, has won four of the five Monuments so far, with only his victory at La Classissima still to come. If Gilbert wins Milan-San Remo, he will become only the fourth person in history to win five races.

This season, Gilbert returns to Lotto Soudal, where he spent three years early in his career, and Procycling met with him at the team's training camp to ask about his Milano-San Remo win and his place in cycling history.

"It's pretty crazy what I've accomplished now in modern cycling. Winning these different races is completely different when you look at parkour," Gilbert said. [At just under 300 km long, this is the longest of the one-day races, and the biggest challenge is the climb of the Cipressa and Poggio, but its complexity is in the details.

Procycling asked seven winners, including three-time champion Oscar Freire and Fabian Cancellara, how they conquered this race.

Like Gilbert, another rider entering the season with a new team is Rohan Dennis. Dennis, a time trial world champion, parted company with Bahrain-Merida midway through last summer's Tour de France and joined Team Ineos this year. Sophie Smith watched the Tour Down Under, Dennis' first race with his new team, to see how he fits in with the team.

"Teammate Luke Rowe told Procycling.

While the Classics riders are preparing for Milan-San Remo, March brings Paris-Nice, one of the oldest and most prestigious early season stage races. Edward Pickering analyzes why this "race to the sun," which dates back to 1933, holds such a unique place in cycling and picks out some of the most memorable moments in the race's history.

Last August, Matti Breschel entered his last race, ending a 15-year professional career. Victor Lindholm spent last year with Breschel near his home in Denmark, preparing for retirement and struggling to find a new identity away from cycling.

At the other end of the spectrum is Brody Chapman, a rider new to the sport. In just four years, this Australian rider has gone from road racing novice to FDJ Nouvelle World Tour rider, opening the door to victory in 2020 at Race Torquay in January. She told Sophie Smith how she got into cycling from mountain biking and downhill, how she grew up in the Australian rainforest, and how she has progressed step by step.

Another rider looking to step up this year is New Zealand time trial specialist Patrick Bevin, who finished fourth in the World Championship TT in Yorkshire last year. Bevin talks to Patrick Fletcher about the difficulties he faced on his way to a breakthrough in Europe, why he has become an expert in aerodynamics and physics, and why time trials are anything but boring.

Meanwhile, Fran Reyes investigates the impact of Epstein-Barr on the careers of professional cyclists. In recent years, a number of riders, including Mark Cavendish, Esteban Chaves, Benat Inchausti, and Tor Hushovd, have been diagnosed with the virus and are investigating its devastating effects, for which there is no cure.

In this month's Retro, William Fotheringham looks back on the career of one of the toughest riders of all time, Andrei Timir, one of 11 riders to win Milan-San Remo, Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

The March issue also features regulars, including updates from Procycling's 2020 diary: updates from James Knox, Heidi Franz, Roger Kluge, and Dan Martin, plus thoughts from new columnist Laurens ten Dam.

Procycling magazine: the best writing and photos from inside the world's toughest sport. Pick up a copy at your local newsstand or supermarket today.