‘Unique that we drove away on Cipressa’

“Yes, I have died a few times. But always with the feeling that I could keep the wheel. That gave confidence.” Mathieu van der Poel looks back on a beautiful victory in Milan-Sanremo, in which Tadej Pogacar laid the fire on the shins, but he eventually pulled the longest end.

The second victory in La Primavera after 2023 comes in his honors list, on which seven so -called monuments and a world title are now on the road, probably in the top three, Van der Poel thinks. “Because I think this is unique and that we have written history by driving away on the Cipressa with the three of them.”

“I used to watch this competition on TV,” says the 30-year-old driver. “Then the decision never fell on the Cipressa, but today it was. Even if that is more the merit of me today. It is incredible how hard he can cycle.”

The Slovenian, who bore on his first triumph in Sanremo, made several attempts on the Poggio to get rid of his Dutch torture spirit through chilling gears. “I knew that Pogacar would try to unload everything or nothing two or three times. So it was the wheel to keep or send and park.”

Pogacar immediately started his attack on the Poggio, but Van der Poel had foreseen that. “I knew that he would try to make the effort as long as possible. But we had the first part of the wind, so I was a little more out of the wind. I was waiting to counter once again, but he still had enough left to get me back.”

Co -airer Filippo Ganna had to leave a hole and had to go all out to join the leading duo again. “It was a moment that Ganna would not demarch from backwards. But I think he was also in his limit to come back.”

View the final below:

“I think I have surprised them a bit by going on at 300 meters, because I am a bit familiar to a short sprint from a slow speed. They were already a bit behind when I went on my sprint. I also felt that I was still the feet for a long sprint. It was perfectly played.”

Pogacar could not help but accept the course of events. “We still have to analyze the race, but I can’t immediately find something that could have been otherwise. It’s hard for me to make a difference here. You run into physical laws. I can’t turn.”

The Slovenian, in recent years successively fifth, fourth and now third for the second time in a row, had nevertheless enjoyed “a nice final. I drove well and I thought everything to make the race explosive. It was not enough, there were two riders simply too good. It would be heavier for me. But again a chance next year.”

Olav Kooij, in spite of his eighth place, had not occurred in the piece. The Dutch sprinter of Visma-Lease A Bike should have let the group go on Cipressa. “From that moment on I only heard in my ear that there were three men for it, and of course not the least. Then there is little chance that you will still see them again.”

Kooij again found a connection with the pursuers, who, under the leadership of Kooij’s teammate Victor Campenaerts, hunted the flown birds. “But I actually knew that we probably only started sprinting for a place of honor. I was a little too far when we started sprinting.”

“I am driving top ten now. It’s nice to ride this course, but to have the chance, the price trend has to be slightly different,” said the deadly tired driver. “Maybe there will be a bit more in the future.”