Tadej Pogačar hinted he may never return to Milan-San Remo after finally winning the Italian monument at the sixth attempt, a breathtaking race that included a crash, a chase and attack on the Cipressa and then a close sprint victory against Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).
Milan-San Remo was starting to weigh on Pogačar’s shoulders as his podium places and defeats mounted up. It seemed out of reach even for his greatness, the route and his rivals, to be able to respond and sit on his attacks and then beat him in the sprint finish.
Now that weight of expectation has gone, the UAE Team Emirats-XRG rider shook it off, just as he dispatched so many rivals on the Cipressa and then Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on the Poggio. Pogačar can now smile as he thinks about Milan-San Remo and enjoy a slice of well-deserved Italian focaccia.
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“It’s quite a relief to finally win it. It’s been many years of training around here and I will miss it,” Pogačar said in the post-race press conference.
Tom Pidcock had revealed after the podium ceremony that Pogačar had told him that he may now never return to Milan-San Remo. Pogačar confirmed as much, joking to Cyclingnews when we asked him as he left the press conference.
Pogačar somehow survived and won one of the most unexpected and unpredictable editions of Milan-San Remo. There have been many in the 117 editions of La Classicissima but this was one for the ages.
In a moment of distraction in the peloton, Pogačar crashed close to the start of the Cipressa climb where he was expected to attack.
He went down hard on his…
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