The Belgian Jasper Philipsen won on the legendary Milan-San Remo, the first Monument, by dominating the Australian Michael Matthews and the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar in the sprint. He is the first pure sprinter to win the race since Arnaud Démare in 2016.
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Belgian Jasper Philipsen became the first sprinter in eight years to win Milan-San Remo, Saturday March 16 during the first Monument of the season, under the noses of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar. In a small group sprint, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider beat the Australian Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogačar to succeed his teammate van der Poel, 10th this year, on the list of winners of one of the five most prestigious classics of the calendar.
“ I always dreamed of winning a Monument and Milan-San Remo and undoubtedly the one where I had the best chance of succeeding. I’m so proud », savored the Belgian, already second in Paris-Roubaix behind van der Poel last year. Since Arnaud Démare in 2016, no pure sprinter has won via Roma where it is the attacker-punchers who have most often stood out in recent years. But Philipsen, best sprinter in the world for two years having flown over the flat stages of the last Tour de France, is also one of the only ones of his caste to follow so well in the bumps, as was the case in the Poggio .
Valuable help from van der Poel
Pogačar attacked twice on this legendary springboard, the summit of which is located 5.5 km from the goal and which offers one of the most exciting moments of the season. But the Slovenian did not manage to beat the other favorites, such as van der Poel, Pedersen, Pidcock, Mohoric or even Alaphilippe, finishing ninth on the line despite a puncture in the last kilometer.
Philipsen also managed to hang on and it was logical that he raised his arms via Roma to sign the 23rd Belgian victory in the Primavera. “ This morning I felt like it could be my day. I managed to hang on in the Poggio and Mathieu helped me enormously afterwards. I owe him a debt of gratitude. Thank you Mathieu », greeted the Fleming.
Van der Poel, despite the disappointment of not having snagged a fifth Monument, was delighted for his teammate who confirms that he is a perfect plan B. ” Jasper told me from Poggio that he was really good and he proved it. I knew he had a good chance, it was up to me to make sure we had a sprint. I would have liked to go with Tadej (Pogačar, at the top of Poggio), but the advantage we had wasn’t big enough and I didn’t have much legs either. » Pogačar and van der Poel were the big favorites of this 115th edition, after having put their hands on eight of the last twelve Monuments between them.
Pogačar stopped in his tracks
The disappointment in the end applies especially to Pogačar who, after his successes in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Lombardy, was aiming for a first victory in San Remo to approach a supreme objective: winning the five Monuments, a feat only achieved by three riders, only Belgians, in the history of cycling.
He consoled himself by climbing onto the podium for the first time in San Remo, surrounded by Philipsen and Matthews, two of his best friends in the peloton. But the equation remains for the Slovenian: how to win a race where the last two climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio, are not selective enough to allow him to make a real difference? Especially when his UAE team lacks both cartridges and organization in the finale. “ We missed maybe 10% in Cipressa and Poggio. I had incredible legs but we didn’t manage to harden the race enough “, he regretted.
The peloton broke a new speed record on the Primavera, covering the 288 km at a staggering 46.2 km/h on average. “ I did everything to get on the podium. It was difficult to do better today », concluded Pogačar who must continue on Monday March 18 with the Tour of Catalonia to prepare for his next big objective, the Tour of Italy.
(With AFP)