Even for what Tadej Pogačar calls “One of the most unpredictable races in the world,” Saturday’s Milan-San Remo was chaotic. The world champion crashed going into the Cipressa, one of two pivotal climbs in the last 25 km of the 298-km Monument. He then came back to win in spectacular fashion in a two-up sprint with Tom Pidcock.
“It’s a horror going into Cipressa”
Crashes happen in cycling. Pogačar’s couldn’t have happened at a much worse time.
“It’s never good to crash,” Pogačar said in the post race interview. “It’s a horror going into Cipressa. Everyone needs to be a the front and the road’s are so narrow.”
The world champion was the first two go down, taking Wout van Aert and other top riders down with him.
“Maybe it was a moment of not 100 per cent focus,” the world champion admitted. “I took a lot of people down with me. I hope everyone’s alright.”
“My first thought was just that it’s over”
Despite obvious signs of a crash down his left side, with a torn jersey and road rash already showing, both rider and bike were good enough to continue. The Slovenian said that he was able to get up quickly
“I mean, after I stopped sliding. It was quite a long slide,” Pogačar told the post-race press with a laugh.
“Your mind goes through all the things. My first though was just that it’s over. I though maybe I’d just go with the team car, or just go directly to San Remo.”
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider says it was the sight of his teammates waiting for him that turned those initial impulses around.
“Florian (Vermeersch) and Felix (Grossschartner), they gave everything to get back to the front. They gave me hope again. I could not give up”
He went on to thank U.S. rider Brandon McNulty and his teammate Isaac del Toro for their efforts on, and after Cipressa.
A hectic road to the finish
Back at the front after a frantic moment, the work was far from done. Pogačar still had to, you know, beat Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and a field of favourites. Something he had yet to be able to do in his last five appearances at La Primavera.
After attacking on the Cipressa dropped the field, except Pidcock and van der Poel, the Slovenian said he had little choice in his tactics on the Poggio.
“When van der Poel was with us at the Cipressa, I thought, it’s 50/50. He is very strong. I figured I will go again on Poggio.”
That tactic worked. Van der Poel, who spoiled Pogačar’s party in a sprint at Milan-San Remo in 2025, drifted back into the peloton.
Pidcock, though, wasn’t going anywhere. That left Pogačar in the exact position that saw him lose the Monument last year. Pidock made it worse by manoeuvring the world champion to the front to lead out the sprint.
“The sprint against Tom, it was crazy,” Pogačar says, adding “I was a bit scared when he forced me to the front. He is punchy, he seems to be in good form, he probably has a better acceleration than me.”
With the field closing in behind, there was no time for cat-and-mouse tactics. Pogačar led out the sprint, kicked, and just barely held off a rapidly accelerating Pidcock. The camera’s confirmed; the Slovenian wins by less than a wheel’s width.
“I waited as long as possible, but I also knew I couldn’t wait too long,” Pogačar said of his mindset going into the sprint. “It was very close. Hats off to him.”
The final Primavera?
In his own post-race interviews, Pidcock let on that Pogačar told him that, with the win, the UAE rider would not be coming back to San Remo.
Pogačar, who has spent a good portion of his winter training on the roads around San Remo, admitted that it would be a relief to not to have the same pressure now that he has his win.
“I think finally I can stop going here every two weeks in training,” The Slovenian said. “But it helped a lot.”
Pogačar added his respect for MSR as not just one of the race calendar’s longest races, but one of the more difficult to win.
“It is one of the most unpredictable races in the world, I think. It’s quite a relief to finally win it.”