Tadej Pogačar’s victory at Milano-Sanremo may have been one of his greatest yet–just in the way he did it. As commentators said, it was an impossible win, given the circumstances. Winning La Primavera was already a daunting task.
With two relatively short and “easy” climbs, it has always seemed to be very tricky for a rider like the UAE Emirates rider to take off in his typical fashion. It’s simply not hard enough to get a gap alone. Last year, Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna managed to hold on, and Pogi couldn’t match them in the sprint. The goal this year was to attack on the penultimate, and harder climb, the Cipressa. But things did not go according to plan. Not. One. Bit.
The GOAT?
Former pro Adam Blythe didn’t hold back in his assessment of the race. Watching Pogačar recover from a crash before the Cipressa and then take over was…incredible.
“He is an animal,” Blythe said on TNT Sports, as per Cyclinguptodate, describing the ride as something beyond even Pogačar’s already high standards. His performance was the stuff of legend. A crash just before the Cipressa would have been a disaster to almost any rider. Pogi himself said he figured the race was over. Had he not had a strong team, he said, he would have gone straight to the hotel, and skipped the Poggio. But he didn’t. And he ended up giving one of the most inspiring performances in recent history.
After clawing his way back to the front, the Slovenian didn’t just survive—he took control, attacking decisively and forcing the race open on the Cipressa. The effort was astonishing. Imagine the matches it takes to burn to catch back on–he was half a minute behind, as top teams rode tempo–and then found himself at the front just as the climb began. Then, astonishingly, his team took control and it was Mexican Isaac Del Toro who set up the launchpad for Pogi to go.
The ride on the Cipressa
“Opening that race up the way he did after that crash. It was phenomenal,” Blythe said, later going even further: “He is the GOAT. No doubt about it.”
With Milano-Sanremo now conquered, attention naturally shifts to what remains. In Blythe’s view, the checklist is remarkably short. “He has one more Monument to win: Roubaix. Then the Vuelta.” And yes, Eddy Merckx won MSR seven times, along with a whole lotta other races, beating some of the biggest stars of his era, but you can easily argue it was a different time, wasn’t it? This isn’t just about…
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