Van der Poel is in top form at the right time and wins Milan-San Remo

He had announced it this week: you don’t have to be the best in the race to win Milan-San Remo. And Mathieu van der Poel has not been at his best in recent weeks. Strade Bianche, where he crossed the finish line solo in 2021, was an anonymous edition for him this year. In the Tirreno-Adriatico, where Van der Poel won a stage that same year after a monster escape of 51 kilometers, he had to solve uphill this year. The top form was not there, he indicated a week ago.

But when he leads the race on Saturday in an elite group of four – with Tadej Pogacar, Wout van Aert and Filippo Ganna – just before the head of the Poggio, the last pimple on the way to the finish on the Via Roma, Van der Poel’s legs. He starts, from the helicopter you see the gap growing by the meter, it seems like a gap of nothing, but it is enough. They will not see Van der Poel again. A few kilometers later, the Dutchman pumps his fist in the air a few times: for the first time he wins the Milan-San Remo cycling monument.

Van der Poel is the fourth Dutchman to win La Primavera (De Lente), after Arie den Hartog (1965), Jan Raas (1977) and Hennie Kuiper (1985). Van der Poel’s grandfather Raymond Poulidor also won the race in 1961. “It is very special that he also won it, but not only for that reason,” Van der Poel said in his first interview after the race. “It’s a monument, I was really focused on winning this race. And I couldn’t have imagined a better scenario than how it turned out.”

It is Van der Poel’s third victory in one of the five cycling monuments, after he was previously the best in the Tour of Flanders twice (in 2020 and 2022).

Classic specialist

For years, Van der Poel has been regarded as one of the best classics drivers, who can control the most important one-day races, but this victory was somewhat unexpected. After his fifth world cyclo-cross title in his own country in Hoogerheide, where he also defeated his eternal Belgian competitor Van Aert in the final, Van der Poel went to a training camp in preparation for the road season. After that, the form in the first matches in Italy – the aforementioned Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico – was not yet as expected and desired.

On the other hand, Van der Poel had already shown in previous years that he doesn’t need much competition rhythm or form to compete with the best in Milan-San Remo. Last year he decided to join the Italian classic at the end. In his first race of that road season he immediately finished third.

Team success

This year Van der Poel was better prepared. He himself said after the race, referring to the two previous races that he completed without success this year: “I needed racing days to get up to standard. That worked.” But not only was he fine, Van der Poel could also thank his teammates. While in the past his team Alpecin-Deceuninck revolved almost exclusively around the Dutchman, nowadays the team has more assets to play in the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (and last year in Tim Merlier, also from Belgium) and the Dane Soren Kragh Andersen .

This time the team played an important role in the final. Before that, the race took place as is often the case at Milan-San Remo, and the first 284 kilometers of the race passed without too many fireworks.

But in the last 10 kilometers it was racing. In that phase, Belgian Quinten Hermans and Kragh Andersen, who eventually finished fifth, assisted Van der Poel until halfway through the Poggio. Then Pogacar decided to attack.

Then it was up to Van der Poel himself. First he cleverly let Van Aert close the gap with Pogacar for him. Furthermore, only the Italian Ganna managed to follow the Slovenian, which quickly made it clear that this formidable quartet would determine who would win this classic. While the climb to the top of the Poggio was almost over and everyone was preparing for a royal sprint, Van der Poel decided on a different scenario and attacked. He had a sixteen second lead at the finish, behind him Ganna (second) and Van Aert (third) sprinted for the consolation prizes. A little later it was Van der Poel who was allowed to listen to the Wilhelmus on the highest step of the podium.

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