Tadej Pogačar launches his sprint with 200m to go. Tom Pidcock looks to the right but there’s no room and he moves to the left and almost gets on terms but he’s half a length short as they throw their bikes to the line. After 289km there’s half a wheel it in.
The early breakaway formed quickly, only for the lead vehicles to go off-course, taking the riders into parked traffic. Anecdotal, yes but a copycat move was allowed to go clear moments later which was notable because it showed how it suited everyone.
Like previous editions this was another “Noah’s Ark breakaway” with team mates going in two by two: two each from Movistar, Bardiani, Novo Nordisk and Polti-Malta, plus a lonely Picnic-PostNL rider in Alexey Faure-Prost.
Behind Orluis Aular of Movistar and UAE’s Jan Christen crashed after about 30km, the latter breaking his collarbone. Given UAE were without Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narvaez because of injury did losing a key rider early give Pogačar thoughts it might not be his day? The gods were out to test him already.
Alpecin-PremierTech’s Silvan Dillier led the chase with 285km to go and the Swiss Stakhanovite was seemingly on the front for the next 200km. Perhaps he looked back one or twice but there were no flicking elbows or other body language despite other teams getting a free ride. His work was solid but he was one against nine riders. The escapees began to gain time and they doubled their lead from three minutes to six on the Via Aurelia coastal road. UAE’s Domen Novak took over with just over 80km left.
Soon teams were riding in train formation to hold their leaders in position. Ineos had a collective crash but Filippo Ganna just avoided the trouble before the Capo Mele.
With the capes cleared, the breakaway was down to four as they passed the fountain in Imperia. Moments later on the way out of Oneglia Pogačar crashed. We’ll put the blame and inquisition aside as nobody seemed to make a grave fault. Pogačar was first to go down, sliding across the road and taking out others like a scythe through grass.
Normally a fall in Sanremo means game over. However if this was a disaster it wasn’t a catastrophe. Pogačar had the good fortune not to be injured and his bike was still rideable, unlike Wout van Aert’s machine. Up in seconds he had team mates ready to lead the chase. Plus if his clothing was ripped leaving his white shorts halfway to a sumo mawashi when viewed from the left he retained enough dignity to continue as the tail of the peloton rode away.
Van der Poel was also caught in the crash but lost less time and was in the first chase group. Pogačar was in the next group behind with Domen Nowak, Felix Großschartner and Florian Vermeersch burning themselves up to chase back through the convoy.
The breakaway was caught at the foot of the Cipressa just as Pogačar made it to the back. Back but a long way back, the TV caption had him at 17 seconds. There was no time to lose and Brandon McNulty led him through the group, the pair passing rivals like they were hobbyists in the Pogi Challenge. In just a kilometre they made it to the front. Suddenly the plan was back on. McNulty used up his last reserves and soon Isaac Del Toro appeared and accelerated hard to stretch out the group.
Pogačar attacked. Pidcock was right on his wheel. One wheel behind Filippo Ganna was in trouble, his head dipping and elbows jutting out like he was pushing an overloaded wheelbarrow as Van der Poel came around him. Mads Pedersen stomped on the pedals to stay in contact but blew in seconds.
In the space of 25 pedal strokes Pogačar was clear with Pidcock and Van der Poel. The rest were left repaying their oxygen debts and by Cipressa church tower the chasers were 25 seconds down.
There were strange moments of calm now. The Cipressa attack as theory was working in practice again and the trio began to collaborate, but the alliance was tentative. The tension rose as Lidl-Trek had numbers and Visma-LAB’s Victor Campenaerts joined in the pursuit and gap fell. The trio started to look back, often the prelude to surrender. The half minute cushion was reduced to a threadbare eight seconds at the foot of the Poggio.
The gap closed further. Excuse the low-fi graphics above but inside the red circle you can just see a speck of white casting shadow on the wall: Pogačar. In the blue circle is the front of the bunch and there’s about six seconds in it here, even less than the TV graphic suggests.
Pogačar rose up and accelerated. Pidcock followed but Van der Poel stayed seated and was now beaten. For a brief moment at least six motos were within 50 metres of the two leaders which helped, but behind who was left to chase? At the top of the Poggio the pair had 15 seconds on the 40 or so peloton with Van der Poel still in between. By the foot of the descent the two had 20 seconds. Pogačar was doing most of the work, Pidcock seemingly all in for the win rather than guaranteeing second place by sharing the work.
Andrea Bagioli did a final pull in the streets of Sanremo for the peloton which helped catch Van der Poel. By now there was almost nobody left to chase. Sensing this Wout van Aert attacked with 1.5km to go and started to close in.
Pidcock flicked his elbow before the flamme rouge and a Pogačar came through to ensure they stayed away and Pidcock sat on. Van Aert was closing in and each time Pogačar glanced back he seemed to check the incoming Belgian more than Pidcock on his wheel.
With 200m to go Pogačar looked over his left shoulder one last time then launched his sprint. Pidcock seemed to point his front wheel right but there was little room by the barriers. He began to get on terms with Pogačar with 50m to go but his front wheel was weaving in a ragged sprint while Pogačar was powering straight and as both lunged it was Pogačar who won by half a wheel.
The Verdict
This time the action came even earlier than the Cipressa with Pogačar’s crash and chase. Milan-Sanremo was this blog’s first pick among the highlights of last season and 2026 topped it, a thriller with added layers of tension and drama.
Milan-Sanremo is famous for the trance-like finish. It may never reach boiling point from the start like a golden Tour stage could, nor even with 100km to go like a vintage Paris-Roubaix. But the intensity of the final 35km was as good as it gets because so much was happening, much of it with the most slender of margins.
Pogačar as the strongest rider on the day and winning may not sound like news. This was different, a frenetic finale. Replay the final kilometre in a simulation and Pidcock could have won and his distant stare on the podium seemed to suggest he knew it. This gave suspense all the way to the line, especially as Pidcock was not sharing the work 50-50 and so might have something left. The 30 second advantage on the Cipressa was reduced to less than ten seconds by the Poggio and Van Aert was just four seconds behind by the finish.
Pogačar’s crash defined the day. Without it maybe he could have gone solo over the Cipressa? However strong that would have been too easy. Philippe Brunel wrote for L’Equipe for 40 years, becoming the lead cycling writer. Having seen Merckx, Hinault et al he often honed his definition of a champion and it someone who can win against the odds, able to turn an unfavourable situation to their advantage and win from it.
Pogačar’s crash wasn’t ruinous in a race where the smallest mishaps and hesitations often define the outcome but his chances did look cooked. Is it his greatest win? That’s subjective, the Zürich Worlds of 2024 was audacious for attacking with 100km to go; he monopolised the 2024 Tour de France; a Liege-Bastogne-Liege win was dedicated to the memorial of Urska Zigart’s mother. Sanremo seemed to mean plenty and despite 110 career wins with five grand tours and now an 11th Monument for once he looked stunned and even tearful.
Many a rider living on the Côte d’Azur has been lured to the Poggio hundreds of times, condemned to climb it like Sisyphus while their dreams up its slopes. Most – think of Peter Sagan, Caleb Ewan or Michael Matthews – try and never win. This is a deliverance for Pogačar who no longer has to go back; even if he was that vindictive there’s no realistic way to overhaul Merckx’s seven wins. This brings a touch of melancholy here for who else is willing to plunge the detonator on the Cipressa next year?
Pro cycling has the habit of asking what a rider can do next. Win, and usually before the finish arch has been dismantled, the triumph is banked and questions tun to “what can you do next?”. A fifth Tour de France awaits and one day there’s the Vuelta and Olympics to collect, goals that no matter how special feel expected. The only question left is whether he can really win Paris-Roubaix?
A fantastic piece on a fantastic race. Thanks, as always, for your insights.
On Pogacar’s future participation, I don’t think you should ever take anything a rider says in the hours after a race at face value, they still have adrenaline coursing through their veins and, in the cold light of day, may regret what they said. However, I hope Pogacar does ride this race in the future as his very presence makes for exciting racing and he has rewritten the playbook on how you win in Sanremo. Received wisdom a few years ago was that attacking on the Cipressa was a fool’s errand, now it is the blueprint for how the non-sprinters can win.
It’s an interesting thing, that for Pogacar’s Cipressa move to work he needs others to come with him – he was only 4 seconds ahead of the bunch with Pidcock & VdP helping him. If he’d been on his own, he’d have no doubt been caught before the line and likely outsprinted.
There’ll always be other riders, like Pidcock, who have a better chance in a 2up sprint against Pogacar than in a reduced bunch sprint against WvA, Pedersen, Matthews etc. But if Pogacar isn’t there to initiate things, will others be so confident on the Cipressa in the future? And if initiated by someone, might the rest of the peloton feel confident that any solo rider not named Pogacar will be easily caught? If Pogacar doesn’t ride MSR again, I can foresee the Poggio returning to be the deciding point in the race…
Reportedly, he found a funny way to say it “I’ll only be back for a focaccia breakfast”, so apparently Bonifazio didn’t only help with meticulous reconnaissance of climbs and even more so descents (his is still one of the most memorable ever seen in a race), but he also granted some true connoisseur local ways… you won’t have focaccia for breakfast anywhere in Italy but in Liguria, where it’s typical to have some with your morning coffee. Good job Bonifazio!
Thank you INRNG. A brilliant report as usual.
My money is on Pogacar winning Paris – Roubaix, against all the odds.
I really hope he doesn’t, but unlike Pogačar’s other races this year, I’m determined to find a way to watch P-R.
WvA seems a legitimate dark horse for the classics this year. Maybe.
Watching Pogacar’s career is becoming the greatest privilege of my life.
I’m in the camp of unless something crazy happens with Roubaix or the upcoming Seixas rivalry this will be his greatest win – to remake an entire race that had stuck to a fairly predictable formula for decades then crash, come back, attack, attack again, then win a sprint is out of this world – even more so at a race like MSR.
MVDPs Amstel win is the only performance I can remember being this impressed by outside of Pogacar’s own.
For all the Merckx comparisons something I haven’t heard said much is we’re actually lucky Merckx existed previously because it allows us to understand the greatness we’re witnessing and pay attention more than if it were the first time? Televised races help also (!) as does the gap between this rider type, if Hinault was the last, to really focus in on this possibly being a once in a-multiple-generations (even lifetime!) chance to see exploits at this level.
I just wish more could appreciate what we’re seeing!
It’s funny also – I loved watching Boonen, Cancellara, Museeuw and so many others, who were all excellent riders, but despite all the nicknames (Spartacus in particular!) none, even in their favoured races, were able to reconfigure entire parcours and even the sport around them.
The big question I’d love answered is; if those riders had the nutrition available to them that this generation do, whether we’d have seen a similar jump for them that we’ve seen in the post Covid era? (Even though both Pog and MVDP were showing promise already then?). It feels like if cycling brought the world the epo and blood doping eras, the high carb era is maybe something less dangerous we should all be taking into our daily lives!
So on that note, I’m gonna head off to freeze my blood, inhale a fistful of pills and ingest as many carbs as my gut can handle! SPARTACUS HERE I COME!
Bike racing doesn’t really get any better than yesterday!
The only thing that could have made it better in my mind, is if Pidcock had won – not only because I’m a fan, but also because there’s something very compelling in watching Pogacar – a rider who can attack early and solo to the line in almost any race under the sun – struggle to find the formula to winning MSR, but to keep trying year after year. Whether he races it again or not, it won’t feel quite the same I don’t think.
Much to say, but a short note to start with: many journos, especially Italian ones, highlighted – as inrng above – that Eddy got seven. Indeed, but among so many other obvious differences, I’d underline that Sanremo was probably to Merckx what Lombardia is for Pogi. His perfect race, the one he can win under so many circumstances and in many different ways, akin to some of their key characteristics. Merckx will probably still sit above Pogi even counting Monument Classics only once the latter’s career will be over, but it’s worth noting that Eddy won “only” 2 Lombardia out of 9 he started and 2 Ronde out of 12. Both races mattered a lot to him be it for sponsor or national reasons. It’s quite clear to me that these should be the most proper terms of comparison for Pogi’s Sanremo or PR, whether or not he stops at one for the former – or ever wins the latter. Which is quite logical just thinking about the most obvious physical differences between the two (besides, of course, taking into account that Monuments also changed through time).
And RVV is probably for Pogi what PR was to Eddy… (but I’m not sure he’ll get his 3rd this year, albeit it should be nearly authomatic from a purely performance POV – yet there’s much more coming into play in a one-day cycling race…).
PD As a sidenote, Sanremo averaged *for the last 3 hours* over 1.2M spectators in Italy on the tv broadcast of Rai 2 only. Call it niche! Sadly, Flanders Classics decided that only the most motivated hardcore fans might be interested in the second episode of the Pogi & Monuments series. Good for them? Surely not as much for the sport.
Some commentator – not sure who – made the observation that Pogacar looks so normal. It’s true. No bulging muscles like Maertens or Spartacus, no pared-down mountain goat like Martinez, Vingegaard or even Bardet. He doesn’t even particularly look the part on a bike, yet he has it all, except maybe the bunch sprint he rarely needs.
That, and Pog’s phenomenal mid-career step up going into the 2024 season, is truly an outlier—probably the most “interesting” one in modern cycling.