Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar proved unstoppable in his quest to claim the elusive Milan-Sanremo crown on Saturday, quipping Britain’s Thomas Pidcock to win his fourth Monument race in his career.
All eyes were on him when he arrived in Italy for the 298-kilometre Milan-Sanremo alongside other riders keen to thwart his dominance, including Wout van Aert and last year’s winner Mathieu van der Poel.
But even a crash and some headwind did not stop the Slovenian from conquering the roads and ending his long wait for the monumental glory.
Bruised and battered Pogačar bounces back
The journey wasn’t picture-perfect with crashes marring the race early on, which took out INEOS Grenadiers’ Michał Kwiatkowski as well as Pogačar’s key domestique, Jan Christen.
That already chipped the strategy for UAE Team Emirates – XRG, but more chaos ensued after Pogačar himself went down alongside some of the top contenders just before the Cipressa, seemingly dashing any hopes for a win.
Yet, despite the abrasions and a torn rainbow jersey, Pogačar hopped on the bike and continued racing.
With only Brandon McNulty and Isaac del Toro left of his teammates, Pogačar managed to get back to position, before Del Toro launched him for an attack.
By then only van der Poel and Pidcock could follow.
It paved the way for a three-way battle to the top, with the bunch hot on their heels and shrinking the gap to just nine seconds at the foot of Poggio.
Once the climb began, Pogačar attacked again, and to the surprise of everyone, he eventually dropped van der Poel.
Pogačar and Pidcock fought head-to-head until the end, with Pogačar outdueling Pidcock in a thrilling sprint finish.
While Pidcock finished second, van Aert of Team – Visma Lease a Bike rode the waves and timed his sprint perfectly to complete the podium in third.
Flawless teamwork from UAE
“When I crashed, for a second I thought it was all over,” a teary-eyed Pogačar said after the race.
“Because to crash just before the most important part of the race is not ideal, but luckily I was quickly back on the bike and not too much damage to me or the bike.”
He also had so much praise for his teammates and credited them for his victory.
“I saw my team. Florian [Vermeersch] and Felix [Großschartner], they left everything out there to bring me back to the front.
“They gave me back hope, and the legs were still ok. Brandon and Isaac did the rest on the Cipressa.”
“Today, if there is no team, probably I would just go straight to Sanremo [and the finish line], I would not go right onto the Cipressa.”
Pogačar adds ‘La Classicissima’ to his collection of Monument races, which includes the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia.
Paris-Roubaix now remains the only Monument classic Pogačar has yet to dominate.
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Marginal disappointment for Pidcock and Van der Poel
Meanwhile, Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team’s Pidcock was left to process what could have been in the race.
The gap between Pidcock and Pogačar on the finish line had been a mere four centimetres.
“I need a bit of time to reflect. Right now I’m pretty disappointed, because it hurts to be so close,” he said in an interview with Cycling Pro Net.
Despite the small gap, Pidcock still managed to have one of the best rides of his career, which also comes after his dominating victory in Milano-Torino just days ago.
Van der Poel also didn’t come out unscathed. He entered the race as one of the riders who was expected to battle with Pogačar for the title, but was left languishing in eighth.
To make matters worse, it was revealed he had been part of the crash that happened off-camera, which left him with a painful hand injury.
This also forced his Alpecin-Premier Tech team to recalibrate their strategy.
Van der Poel said that while the team was able to bring him back “strongly” following that crash, he felt he was simply “not at my best anymore”.
“On the Poggio, I quickly chose my own pace, hoping to come back if they started looking at each other, like Filippo Ganna did last year, but it was over,” he said in a report from Domestique Cycling.
Not all is over for Pogačar’s main rivals at the Milan-Sanremo, however, as Pidcock is set to race the Volta a Catalunya starting March 23 against some of the big names in professional cycling, such as Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and João Almeida.
On the other hand, van der Poel will surely aim to come back strong in the E3 Saxo Classic on March 27.
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