Resisting Tadej Pogačar’s ambition to claim every major race, and notably the Monuments, is becoming one of the hardest feats in the history of cycling, yet Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) managed, once again, to counter the many attacks of the Slovenian star last Saturday on the roads of Milano-Sanremo.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG laid the groundwork for Pogačar with even more intensity and anticipation than in previous years. He went flying from the Cipressa, with almost 25 kilometres to go. He attacked, again and again, also on the Poggio, but Van der Poel never faded - he even tried his own move on the final climb of the day - and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) managed to come back inside the last kilometre, just in time to participate in the final sprint and finish 2nd, as he did in 2024.
On the Via Roma, Pogačar tried to play with the nerves of Van der Poel, a rival he’s gotten to face many times in such situations… but the Dutchman unleashed his sprint with 300 metres to go and powered to his second victory in Sanremo, his seventh Monument victory, thus matching his Slovenian rival’s record, far beyond that of any other active riders (John Degenkolb, Remco Evenepoel, Jakob Fuglsang and Alexander Kristoff have won two each). The duo are also the only ones with victories in three different Monuments.
A historic dominance
“I really wanted this win but it wasn’t easy against these two rivals,” Van der Poel said. “Tadej tried to drop me but I felt pretty strong. I countered on the Poggio but he managed to get back. At that point, I knew the other two would try to force a long sprint and I think I surprised them a bit. I launched when I saw the ‘300 metres to go’ sign. Winning Milano-Sanremo is special but doing it against two incredible riders makes me super happy and proud to be on the podium with them.”
“We’re gonna see next year,” Ganna announced after assuring, “I couldn’t have done anything more today.” As for Pogačar: “Chapeau to Mathieu Van der Poel. It was a nice edition of the race, we gave it all. One year I hope I can pull it off. Today I need to be satisfied with third but we’ll be back next year for more.”
Most likely, Pogačar will have to battle again with Van der Poel in order to rule Sanremo, where Alpecin-Deceuninck have won every year since 2023: first with Van der Poel, then Jasper Philipsen, and now Van der Poel again. The Dutch star, who wore the rainbow jersey last year before Pogačar won the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich (Switzerland) thus establishes the absolute dominance of the duo over Monuments.
Sanremo, Flanders and Roubaix for “MVDP”, Liège and Lombardy for Pogačar - they are the defending winners in all of the five most prestigious Classics. Together they have won 10 of the last 12 Monuments raced: Evenepoel in Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023 and Philipsen in Milano-Sanremo 2024 being the only two exceptions. They have stood together on the podium on three occasions.
Heading to Flanders, with Roubaix in mind
Will it be the case again in a couple of weeks, when the two stars face off in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the second Monument of the season? It is so far the only one they’ve both conquered - on three occasions for Van der Poel, one for Pogačar - and, together, they’ve won the last three editions. With its short ascents, demanding cobbles and tricky roads, the Ronde offers a great mix to challenge their different skills.
So far, Sanremo has resisted Pogačar. As for Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, Van der Poel said on Saturday it would be “almost impossible to win against riders like Tadej and Remco. Maybe not absolutely impossible but I would need to be very lucky.” He was 10th in his only participation in Il Lombardia (2020) and came 3rd last year in Liège.
Before tackling these summits, Van der Poel will have a major rendezvous on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix where he could become the third rider to win three successive editions, after Octave Lapize (1909, 1910, 1911) and Francesco Moser (1978, 1979, 1980).
Pogačar is yet to participate in Paris-Roubaix… But he’s already shown his knack for cobbles and his ambition to tame the Hell of the North. Already in 2025? An announcement should be made in the coming days.