Milan-San Remo is a curious race, whisking up excitement purely through speculation and anticipation, when almost every year the script is followed to the letter: a large mostly Italian breakaway, pressure on the Cipressa, attack on the Poggio, then the multiple choice of solo descent or boxing match on the run-in.
This year, one team did as they promised by attempting to overturn convention, but in the end, it was about the most traditional Milan-San Remo one could hope for, with excitement on the climbs followed by a thrilling charge into town and a reduced bunch sprint, which was won by the fast-climbing Jasper Philipsen in a photo finish ahead of Michael Matthews, with Tadej Pogačar sprinting hard for the podium.
- UAE Team Emirates started fiddling with the excitement dial on all three of the Tre Capi just inside the last 52 km - small climbs on the face of it but far from insignificant 250 km into the longest one-day race of the season - upping the pace to put Tadej Pogačar’s rivals and their teams under pressure.
- After so much pushing in the preceding 20 km, UAE Team Emirates was nowhere to be seen on the run-in to the Cipressa, but as sure as … well, as sure as the Poggio is centre stage for Milan-San Remo, Pogačar soon reappeared at the front with a couple of teammates to once again plunge the accelerator through the floor.
- Alas, the group was still large on the crucial approach to the Poggio, and after all the efforts of UAE Team Emirates to grind down reserves, it was Lidl-Trek that was in control until the foot where Tudor Pro Cycling led the race onto the infamous launchpad.
- Wellens was still there for Pogačar, and the Slovenian put him to work before his inevitable attack about 1500 metres from the summit (6.5 km from the finish). Mathieu van der Poel, though, was glued to the Strade Bianche-winner’s wheel, with Alberto Bettiol and Filippo Ganna quick to grab hold. Unsatisfied, Pogačar eased off allowing a bit of a regrouping.
- Pogačar tried again 200 metres from the top, and once again, the world champion was the only one to follow after a little hesitation. But thanks in part to the superlative descending prowess of Tom Pidcock, there were ten or eleven riders still in the game by the foot of the Poggio and into the last 3 km.
- Matej Mohorič was the first to attack in the last gasps of the descent, but with Philipsen back in the group, Van der Poel was the man to bring it back together, before Matteo Sobrero slipped quietly off the front with the flamme rouge in reach.
- Pidcock reacted almost instantly and soon took over from the young Italian in the lead, and though the world champion was back on the front, it looked like the diminutive Brit might stay away, but the group swallowed him up in the last few-hundred metres for a reduced sprint.
- This marks the first sprint finish - from a significantly reduced bunch - at Milan-San Remo in about eight years, and Jasper Philipsen’s first Monument victory.
Quote of the day
"This is one of the best podiums I've ever seen. They're very good friends, and I'm happy I could lose to them. This is one of the best moment of my life."
Tadej Pogačar on sharing the podium with his training partner Michael Matthews and former teammate Jasper Philipsen.
Brief analysis:
- UAE Team Emirates clearly came with a plan and, as Pogačar said in his post-race interview, they stuck to it, but it seemed neither of the ‘major’ climbs they tried it on were long or hard enough to get rid of the key aggressors, in particular, Mathieu van der Poel. After all the effort made earlier in the day starting at 52 km to go, questions abounded as to the team’s strength, and it’s certainly fair to ask why they were M.I.A. before the Cipressa, but the main thing they and the rest of the peloton will have learned today is that you can’t drop an on-form Van der Poel on this terrain.
- As it happened, Van der Poel didn’t even seem to be plan A for his team, with Jasper Philipsen well and truly in the game. Sure, the world champion was the one who weathered the inevitable Pogi punches on the Poggio (sorry), but with no significant gap over the chasers, Van der Poel proceeded to let the Slovenian handle the descent, aware that they would soon have company which would include his very very fast-finish teammate. Philipsen later said, "On the descent of the Poggio I begged Mathieu on the radio not to work with Pogačar because I had great legs", and the world champ's second-fiddle standing became clear for all to see in the run-in as he set about closing down the attacks of Mohorič, Sobrero and Pidcock. That last one was close, but who would doubt the world champion? Even in his first (road) race of 2024.
- Though UAE Team Emirates made the most obvious show of force - you can make your own judgment as to their efficacy, and indeed strength - it was Alpecin-Deceuninck that played the race most smartly. Frankly, the men in double-denim (sigh) went about their business fairly quietly, sticking Silvan Dillier on the front with Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek for an interminable number of kilometres (over 230 according to his team) before UAE Team Emirates had their fun, and then just maintaining position somewhere near the front until crunch time. Theirs was the perfect display of holding fire, reading the race, and knowing their capabilities.
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