Mathieu van der Poel: ‘Winning San Remo is special, and beating those two incredible riders is an honour’

The 116^th edition of Milan-San Remo was a special race in all kinds of ways, and above all for its extraordinary finale that saw Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Filippo Ganna engage in a ding-dong battle over the Cipressa and Poggio climbs and into the finish, where the Dutchman was triumphant in the three-up sprint. His success meant that his Alpecin-Deceuninck team became the first since the early 1970s to win three consecutive editions, while it also ended a run of 17 different winners.

Van der Poel admitted that he’d found the wet and cold conditions difficult during the first part of the race and was glad of the sunny weather that warmed the riders along the Ligurian Riviera into San Remo. ‘The beginning was horrible with the rain and the cold, but when we came down to the coast, I started to feel better and better. I felt really good at the end actually,’ said the Dutchman.

The Alpecin team leader also confessed that Pogačar had the edge until the final sprint in San Remo. ‘I was really focused on trying to get the win, but we knew that Tadej was going to be really strong. He was the strongest on the climbs. He was impressive on the Cipressa,’ said van der Poel.

He said that the cooperation between the trio in between the Cipressa and Poggio climbs ‘was pretty good,’ partly because it guaranteed them podium spots. The key for him, van der Poel admitted, was holding Pogačar in check on the second of those hills. ‘My finish was on top of the Poggio with Tadej. I knew he was going to try to drop me, but I felt pretty strong and I hoped I could counter. But he was strong enough to get me back.’

When it came to the sprint, the Dutchman knew he was the favourite and felt that he’d outwitted his rivals. ‘I knew the other two wanted to make it a long sprint, that they probably thought that I was going to make it as short as possible. I think I surprised them a bit when I saw the 300-metre sign and launched my sprint. I felt strong enough to keep it going until the finish line, and I think it was the right tactic,’ he said.

‘Winning San Remo is special, and beating those two incredible riders is an honour for me. I’m super happy,’ he added.

There was no disguising Pogačar’s disappointment, even though the world champion tried to gloss over his defeat. ‘I was beaten by two better riders today, but there’s another chance next year,’ he explained.

Asked if San Remo’s finale is always going to hinder his chances of winning the race, Pogačar said, ‘I would prefer the Poggio to be five kilometres long and 10%, but it is what it is. It’s a really hard race for me to make the difference. The laws of physics are in play and you can’t perform magic.’

The world champion said his team had been good, that their tactics had been good, and that all he’d been missing was a touch more power and a little bit of luck. ‘The legs were really good. I was just maybe missing a bit to be at peak power, but I could attack many times. I just needed a few missing watts to be at maximum.’

UAE Team Emirates-XRG boss Mauro Gianetti told Eurosport that his team’s plan had been to attack on the Cipressa and that they carried it out almost perfectly. The only slight flaw was that Isaac Del Toro had got caught in the peloton and couldn’t do his final effort on the Cipressa.

‘It was an amazing and a thrilling day with the three best riders for this race,’ said Gianetti. ‘We know that this race is complicated for us, for Tadej, but we tried everything today and, like always, he put on an amazing show. We have no regrets. We need to recognize when riders are better than us.’