Van der Poel crushes everyone in Milan-San Remo

//Van der Poel crushes everyone in Milan-San Remo

Van der Poel crushes everyone in Milan-San Remo

It took only eight days of road racing for Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to reach his best form. That’s not only amazing,  it’s flat out scary — what could he do with ten days, fifteen days? The man certainly doesn’t waste time.

Near the top of the Poggio, the Dutchman blasted away from top favorites Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Milan San Remo surprise Philippo Ganna (Ineos-Grandadiers)

Out of the saddle he went and out they back they went. It was a hammer blow that nobody even really attempted to close. They stayed glued to their seats and took up the same role as the Italian fans along the 298 kilometer race route: spectators. 

They could only watch from behind as Van de Poel showed his superior descending skills, ripping the corners and widening his lead. Pogecar and Ganna made half-hearted efforts to push the pace yet they couldn’t match the speed of the man up front.

By the finish in San Remo, Van der Poel had 15 seconds on the hopeless chasers. He took his first Monument victory, a race his grandfather Raymond Poulidor had won 62 years ago. Like grandpa, like grandson. 

“This is a special win in a very special race. It’s so difficult to win here,” said van der Poel. “The victory is amazing, and we will celebrate for sure.” Waiter, another round of negronis, please. 

For the runner-ups, there was no talk of poor tactics, faulty judgement or simple misfortune. The winner had simply smashed them — he was stronger and faster and there was nothing to be done about it. 

Van Aert and Ganna resigned themselves to the lower steps on the podium. “I think I’ve done my best. I’m a little bit disappointed to finish second, yet I’m satisfied with my performance,” said Ganna. Van Aert also accepted his place at La Primavera — “I have to be satisfied with this third top 3 at Milano-Sanremo. I have no regret about how the race went. Mathieu showed everybody that he was super strong. He delivered a strong move at the right moment.”

Forth place finisher Tadej Pogecar rode aggressively all day but also came to the exact same conclusion. “I was not strong enough to go solo, and then Van der Poel attacked. I could not follow, he was too strong. On the downhill he was also better than us out of the corners, you could see he was sprinting. The three of us, we could not do the same as him.”

Mathieu van der Poel was won the first monument of the season. It’s astonishing what you can do with just eight days of prep. 

By |2023-03-18T13:38:53-07:00March 18th, 2023|Featured|0 Comments

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