Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, March 17, 2024

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. - Lao Tzu

---

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing:

• March 18 - 25: Volta a Catalunya
• March 19 - 23: Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali

Latest completed racing:

• March 16: Milano - Sanremo
• March 16: Classic Loire Atlantique
• March 15: Brendene Koksijde Classic
• March 14: GP de Denain
• March 13: Danilith Nokere Koerse
• March 13: Milano-Torino
• March 3 - 10: Paris-Nice
• March 4 - 10: Tirreno-Adriatico
• March 2: Strade Bianche

---

Milano-Sanremo team reports

We posted the report from second-place Michael Matthews' Team Jayco-AlUla with the results.

Here's the report from third-place Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates:

As expected, the first part of the Italian classic, the 288km from Pavia to Sanremo, featured a breakaway starting after 15km. However, it did not worry the top riders of the day, who always maintained a manageable gap from the breakaway.

UAE Team Emirates began to move and push their riders on the Cipressa climb, highlighting the young Del Toro. It was then on the Poggio that Pogačar attempted an attack but failed to drop his rivals.

In the finale, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), already a winner in 2022, animated the last kilometers of the race. However, it ended with a reduced group sprint, where the Slovenian talent from UAE Team Emirates tried to make a comeback but had to settle for third place.

The finish was close. RCS Sport photo

Pogačar: “This podium is one of the finest I could imagine. Michael and Jasper are good friends so I’m really happy to be able to climb the podium with them. I had really good legs and felt I could have won but here everyone wants to win, so I can be pleased with my podium. The team did a really great job, almost perfect I would say on the Cipressa and Poggio. I couldn’t open a gap on the final climb no matter how hard I tried so I tried my luck in the sprint. We’ll come back again in the future and try for the win.”

Here's the Milano-Sanremo report from fourth-place Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek:

The most consistently thrilling Monument finish in cycling delivered yet again. For Lidl-Trek, Mads Pedersen took fourth at Milano-Sanremo in the sprint after launching off Jasper Stuyven’s wheel in the closing meters of a cagey race.

Mads Pedersen can be seen just behind Michael Matthews.

Seemingly every team and rider took a shot at victory from the climb up the Poggio onward. Ultimately, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen made the winning move, winning a photo finish over Michael Matthews, with Tadej Pogacar close behind in third. But it was the sort of race that seemingly could have unfolded in a dozen permutations.

A big group approached the Poggio, and Lidl-Trek was well represented near the front with Pedersen, Stuyven, Toms Skujins and Jonathan Milan. Milan took the front of the field and upped the tempo with one kilometer to go to the climb, then peeled off to leave his teammates in strong position.

The end game took form nearing the summit of the Poggio when Pogacar attacked and tried to go solo onto the descent. He was reeled back in by his chasers, with Pedersen making a big effort in particular to close a gap onto Tom Pidcock’s wheel into fifth position with six kilometers to go in the race.

With Pogacar neutralized, plans began hatching in the peloton. For Lidl-Trek, the mission was to protect Pedersen and make sure there was never a lull in the pace up front. The execution was nearly flawless.

“Mads and I on the Poggio just tried to follow,” Stuyven said after the race. “Everyone is waiting for the launch of Tadej, and then the scenario starts when he doesn’t get away. And I think you saw that in the last 500 meters of the Poggio plus the downhill, because once we hit the bottom you can see how everything can happen every moment.”

As multiple attackers took their shots at victory in the final five kilometers, Stuyven and Pedersen systematically shut down every threat. Then in the final few hundred meters, they took their shot. For a moment, it appeared Pedersen might have the winning legs, surging up the right side within a stone’s throw of the finish banner. But in a race that can accommodate so many tactics, he just missed out on the podium when a mirrored attack from the bunch took place on the left side of the road.

After the race, Pedersen was disappointed he couldn’t bring home a better result for the squad. He praised Lidl-Trek’s team effort, but the former World Champion admitted he didn’t achieve the incredibly high standards he has set for himself.

“I’m happy with the way we rode as a team, but I’m sorry that I didn’t do a better sprint and at least finish on the podium,” Pedersen said. “On a day like today, with the way we rode and with the help of Jasper in the final and so on, I should have at least been on the podium, and that’s why it’s even more disappointing for myself that I didn’t do that.”

The silver lining is that the Classics season has only just begun, and Pedersen and Lidl-Trek showed that they have the camaraderie, legs and tactical nouse to control the peloton and put themselves in striking distance of wins and podiums.

A strong finish in a race famous for chaotic endings is far more encouraging than not. Pedersen and Lidl-Trek will be in position to win again soon, and next time it just might be their turn to finish the job.

“In the sprint I think legs speak, but I think we did everything we had to do,” Stuyven said. “The team did perfectly like we planned. We were just missing the cherry on the cake. Of course, you always want to step away with the positive, and I think that the positive is that both Mads and I are there and ready for the coming weeks.”

Here's the Milano-Sanremo report from fifth-place Alberto Bettiol's Team EF Education-EasyPost:

After racing nearly 300 kilometers from the outskirts of Milano to the Italian Riviera, Alberto Bettiol matched attack after attack, going with cycling’s galacticos as they tried to sprint away from the remains of the peloton over the Poggio.

He’d hit the climb at the front, as he had done on the Cipressa and each of the earlier climbs that rise above the coastal road that winds along the Med. That was thanks to the work done by his teammates. Alberto sang their praises after the finish in Sanremo, where he had sprinted to fifth.

Hear from him and the rest of our squad before they travel to Belgium for the cobbled classics.

EF Education-EasyPost riders descend the Turchino Pass. Sirotti photo

Alberto Bettiol:
The team was amazing. I was especially impressed, because a lot of guys here were doing Milano-Sanremo for the first time. It is not easy to ride a Monument like this for the first time, but I am really proud of them and the way they rode and hope that they learn for the future. Hopefully they will do better than me one day and win!

The finale was really fast. Pogacar was really strong on the Poggio, but in the end it was difficult to make a gap because we went really fast all day. Milano-Sanremo is like this. You never know who is going to win until the last 100 meters. It is one of the only races in the world where you really don’t know how it is going to end. Sanremo is a really, really open race. You need a lot of experience to read it well. Our team was young in experience, but I am really proud of my teammates.

For the upcoming weeks, I am really confident. I showed everyone what I can do. I won Milano-Torino a few days ago. Today, I was top ten, so let’s hope we have another good couple of weeks in the Belgian classics and for the rest of the year.

Yuhi Todome
It was so fun. I was so very excited. I tried hard, did my best, and finished the race. Bettiol was fifth, which is a good result. Thank you so much everyone for cheering.

Marijn van den Berg
It was a nice experience. We rode super well as a team and stuck together all the time. Going into the climbs, Alberto was always in perfect position. I think we did this really well. For me personally, I was good. I still need to take some steps to compete for the win in a few years. But, like I said, this was nice with Alberto. I think we did super well as a team.

Jonas Rutsch
It was a long day. In the end, we did quite well. I am happy with how it went. Now, I am tired. It is always pretty hectic in the final. I am glad that it is over now and we got a good result with Alberto. It was a good day.

Harry Sweeny
It was a really nice race actually. Almost 300 kilometers! I had a good time, had a chat with my mates before we hit the climb and then we hit the coast and it was pretty much on from then. The stress started early, but we were one of the few teams that sat back a bit and relaxed. Then we got Alberto into the bottom of the Cipressa in third or fourth wheel. I used up quite a lot of energy there, so I had to count my matches a little bit on the Cipressa and take it as easy as I could. We came back just before Poggio, and then I tried to find Alberto, but got a little bit lost. Still he went into the Poggio in fifth or sixth spot. It was a good day.

Andrey Amador
It was really hard. I am tired. But we are happy! Alberto came in fifth place. He was in the front. It is not always possible to win.

Michael Valgren
It was a fast day with beautiful weather, a typical Milano-Sanremo, with the stress building all day. But we did an amazing job as a team, were always on top of things, and in the end we finished fifth with Alberto, which is a good result, maybe not what we wanted, but I think we can be proud of the way we raced. I am proud of the guys who did it for the first time really well. We can build from this and take it to next week in Belgium!

I felt steady, strong, like a Danish Viking. I did my job, hit the Cipressa first with the team on my wheel. That was what I had to do, so I am happy with that.

Sports Director, Andreas Klier
If you look at the sprint, if you look at the Cipressa and how we rode into the Cipressa, if you look at how Alberto followed the attack from Pogacar and company, I think the team did very well. I don’t think we had the possibility to drop the créme de la créme today. That was impossible. But Alberto and the whole team rode a very strong race.I hope we win it next year or the year after that. The guys did very well and that gives us confidence for all of the races that are just around the corner.

Here’s the Milano-Sanremo report from Team Lotto Dstny:

Milano Sanremo is known as one of the longest races of the year, but as almost every time, it was on the Poggio where the race exploded. Attacking twice, Tadej Pogacar was able to create a gap and after a chase in the decent, Maxim Van Gils was able to join the leading group for the final kilometers.

The peloton races past the town of Tortona. Sirotti photo

"My descent from the Poggio didn't go as planned. At one point, my wheel slipped a bit. I almost fell in one of the hairpin turns and got a little bit scared. I had to tackle the descent of the Poggio with that fear. As a result, I found myself trailing at the back of the leading group and always remained about ten meters behind. I could never fully catch up, and unfortunately, I spilled too much energy."

Arriving at the finish with the leading group of 12 riders, a 7th place was the maximum for Maxim Van Gils after the fastest La Primavera in history. “I did my best. In a peloton full of climbers, I can hold a good sprint, but here, there were still Philipsen, Pedersen, and Matthews... this was against sprinters, so I can't blame myself here."

Today’s result is the fifth top ten spot for Maxim Van Gils in five races in 2024 so far, making it a very strong start of the season for the young Belgian rider. After the finish, Maxim was satisfied with his result and was happy he could ride a strong performance built on strong teamwork. "We raced quickly and attentively as a team, which was beautiful to see. Personally, I feel that I have taken another step forward. The team believes in me, and it's nice to confirm that trust."

Here's the Milano-Sanremo report from ninth-place Julian Alaphilippe's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Julian Alaphilippe racked up his tenth top 10 finish in a Monument at the end of the fastest Milano-Sanremo in history, which saw the peloton record an insane 46.11km/h average speed over the 288 kilometers that make “La Primavera” the longest race in the world.

With the help of his Soudal Quick-Step teammates Kasper Asgreen and Casper Pedersen, who did an amazing job in the final 30 kilometers of the season’s first Monument, the two-time World Champion was at all times perfectly positioned in the bunch during the key moments of the day: the Cipressa and the fast downhill along the coast, and the Poggio.

Despite being briefly gapped before the top of the final climb, Julian took advantage of his superb descending skills to quickly return to the favourites’ group, which was heading towards the finish at a frantic pace. Alaphilippe remained calm when a flurry of attacks threatened to change the status quo just before the closing kilometer. Unfortunately, his hopes of fighting for a podium place went up in smoke as they passed under the flamme rouge, when he suffered a puncture that stopped him from showing his speed in the sprint.

Julian Alaphilippe finishes ninth. Sirotti photo

In the end, it was a ninth place for Julian as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the race, a result that gives a lot of confidence to the 31-year-old, who will now moves his attention to the cobbled Classics.

“I am happy with my race. I felt good the entire day and had an incredible team by my side, who protected me and made sure I was in the right place when it mattered. It’s disappointing that I had that flat, because without it I am sure I could have finished higher in the classification. Anyway, top ten in the first Monument of the year isn’t a bad result, especially as I could feature in the finale despite everything. I can’t wait now for the Belgian races, where I hope to continue my upward trajectory”, an upbeat Julian said after Milano-Sanremo.

And here's the report from Laurence Pithie's Team Groupama-FDJ:

Laurence Pithie took part in a cycling Monument for the very first time on Saturday in the 115th Milano-Sanremo. This discovery, in the leader’s shoes, turned out to be quite successful for the young 21-year-old New Zealander, who only missed one kilometre to follow the best at the summit of the Poggio. Then in contention for the top-20, thirty-five seconds behind the winner Jasper Philipsen, the rider from Groupama-FDJ secured a very decent fifteenth place on the fastest ever “Primavera”, after the perfect support from his teammates all day long. Just a starting point.

Stefan Küng leads Groupama-FDJ teammates through the town of Tortona, about 70km into the race. Sirotti photo

From Pavia to Sanremo, the riders were this Saturday about to tackle the “shortest” “Classicissima” since the shortened edition of 2013. Officially, 288 kilometers were on the menu for the first Monument of the season, to which it was necessary to add the six kilometres of the neutral start. The mythical 300-kilometre mark couldn’t therefore be reached, but the final promised to be just as thrilling as usual. Before things got serious in the last seventy kilometres, the breakaway first took the spotlights after twenty minutes of racing. Eleven men found themselves in front, including Lorenzo Germani! “Lorenzo’s mission was to control a bit at the start in the event that WorldTour teams entered the breakaway,” explained Yvon Caër. “He did his job well, and by following a move, he found himself in front. It then took us a while to be able to overtake the bunch to talk with him. We then thought that he would be more useful with his leaders than in the breakaway. He had a very specific job at the start of the race and on the seaside, so I’d rather have him work alongside Laurence.”

The breakaway, reduced to ten men, also never enjoyed a three-minute gap as the bunch proved quite cautious. After safely passing Passo del Turchino shortly before halfway, the riders got to the “Lungomare”, in Liguria, where the situation remained stable for an additional hour.

The tension finally rose, as expected, as they approached the three Capi, about seventy kilometres from the finish. Thanks to Clément Russo and Sam Watson’s support, the strong men of Groupama-FDJ were able to overcome these first three climbs in perfect conditions. It was equally so at the bottom of the Cipressa, the penultimate climb of the day, which Stefan Küng, Quentin Pacher and Laurence Pithie entered in the first twenty positions. “Regarding positioning, everyone had their responsibilities, and everyone did a very, very good job,” claimed Yvon. “Clément did a super job, and the approach to the Cipressa was ideal. Our ability to position is one of today’s most satisfying things. Tactically and technically, we lived up to our expectations.” “The team did a super job to keep me in front and well-positioned all day,” testified Laurence, still perfectly in the mix at the top of the Cipressa alongside Stefan Küng and Quentin Pacher in a bunch already reduced to around forty riders. The transition to the last climb proved however less intense, which allowed some riders to return from the back. “Sam came back just before the Poggio, and he put our leaders in the top positions for the climb,” continued Yvon. “Laurence was where he needed to be.”

A big pull from the Briton less than a kilometre from the first slopes allowed Laurence Pithie and Stefan Küng to tackle the last climb in the first ten positions. The real push only occurred 2.5 kilometres from the summit through Tim Wellens. The peloton then stretched out, and Tadej Pogacar finally made the expected attack one kilometre from the summit.

“I was in position on the Poggio, but I got shuffled back a little bit, and when the best ten riders went, I just didn’t have the legs to follow unfortunately,” said Laurence. “I found myself between the leading group and the bunch.” “He just missed a little bit of strength at the top of the Poggio, nothing more,” added Yvon. Thirteen riders were able to make a gap before the descent, and no one managed to really break away before the finish line. The victory came down to a sprint, and Jasper Philipsen claimed it. Thirty-five seconds later, Laurence Pithie took third place in the first chasing group, which meant 15th on the day. “It’s unfortunate not to be in front,” added Laurence. “The team did a great job, and I can’t thank them enough. It was just me who missed a little bit today, but it’s a good experience. The legs are still good, and I hope my time will come in the next races.”

Fifteenth in its first Monument, the “Kiwi” has nevertheless given solid guarantees for the future. “The result is satisfying because we have no regrets,” said Yvon. “After a race, I first wonder if we could have done better in terms of attitude and choices. I came out of this race very satisfied regarding these criteria. We did the race we had to do, we were beaten by stronger riders, and Laurence is very young, and he’s still maturing. He rode Milano-Sanremo for the first time, his experience in the WorldTour is still quite limited even if he is progressing fast. He didn’t miss much to follow the best thirteen, but it’s Milano-Sanremo, a Monument, with the world’s best riders. This is the first time he made this Poggio effort in a racing situation. This is a very good omen for the future to say the least, and I think he has the potential to do very, very well in Milano-Sanremo in the future. I think he learned a lot today.” On the line, Laurence Pithie was also followed by Quentin Pacher (19th) and Stefan Küng (23rd). “Stefan raced Wednesday and Thursday, he crashed two days ago, but he was still there to do the hard work at the bottom of the Poggio”, concluded Yvon. “We are reassured about his physical condition. Quentin is still doing well also. Both had the mission of supporting Laurence and they did it very well.”

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary