A Family Affair

Genes are funny things: they hide then mysteriously appear when least expected. In 1961 French great Raymond Poulidor won Milano-Sanremo with a solo attack up the finishing Poggio climb, holding off World Champion Rik Van Looy by a three-second margin after having almost been taken off course by a confused race director. 62-years later, his grandson, Mathieu van der Poel, adds to the family luster with his solo attack on the Poggio, this time with no errant race direction to contend with, and in turn, wins alone with 15-seconds in hand. Oh, the stories that must be flying around the Van der Poel/Poulidor family dinner table these days.

Milano-Sanremo is the true, unchanging Classic race. As in re-reading a great novel or attending a favorite opera, the plot and notes remain unchanged, yet the experience is ever different and something new is always learned. The Italians seem to the be the last to truly respect the historic forms of cycling, no gimmicky tinkering (hello, Paris-Nice TTT) or overly short stages for them. It’s not an easy politic to follow, that is certain, but I can only applaud the Italian commitment to the classic and historic forms of our sport and all the beauty that lies therein.

The race followed the familiar plot with the traditional morning breakaway, composed of nine-men featuring 22-year-old Negasi Haylu Abreha racing for the new Q36.5 team of Doug Ryder and Luigi Bergamo. The Ethiopian is long and lean, has an excellent style on his machine, and is yet another exciting prospect to come out of African cycling. Unfortunately for the break, hammering for all they were worth for over 260-kilometers at 45.4 kph average, the alert teams never allowed them more than a paltry three-minutes lead, and the escapees were absorbed at the base of the Cipressa climb with 27-k to go by a now-raging peloton.

The Belgian Lotto-Dstny team, rumored to be in a state of conflict over whether to support Caleb Ewan or rising star the Belgian bull Arnaud De Lie, had the issue settled when De Lie blew as Tadej Pogâcar’s UAE squad took over to set an infernal tempo on the Cipressa. Ineos-Grenadiers, with the excellent Hot Tubes Junior squad graduate Magnus Sheffield in fine form, kept their trackman, yet mediocre bike handler, Filippo Ganna in front (“I didn’t see anything apart from Luke Rowe’s back wheel and my teammates, they carried me a in a kind of bubble from Imperia to the Poggio.”), but it was here that we saw the first signs of a majestic Mathieu van der Poel. He and wingman Søren Kragh Andersen were first over the top, and with UAE’s Matteo Trentin, opening a gap on the tricky descent before sitting up as UAE reassembled their squad.

The peloton raced to the base of the Poggio in the usual fraught manner with another US rider, EF Education-EasyPost’s Neilson Powless, staying in the front, another sign of his steady, superb progress. Five-men of Bahrain-Victorious, with their 2022 winner Matej Mohorić in tow, blasted through the tight entrance to the climb, holding the front until, with 2.5-k to the top, UAE’s Tim Wellens surged to the front with Tadej Pogača on his wheel, setting up the move anticipated by the entire peloton and viewing public, stringing out the bunch a long, suffering line. UAE’s old fox, Matteo Trentin, sitting ninth in that string of pain, began to ever-so-slightly soft pedal, allowing a gap to open that no one behind him seemed to realize until it was too late. The race was over for everyone besides the eight in front. What a pro move.

Now only Pogača and Wellens, 2019 World Champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Morhorič, Mathieu van der Poel and Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ganna, who was looking sort of perfect, and van der Poel’s archrival, Wout Van Aert of Jumbo-Visma were in the running for the win as the gap opened almost violently under the pressure of Wellens.

1.1-k to the top and Pogača attacks, eliminating Pedersen, Morhorič and Kragh Andersen, who had done his job to perfection. Now we have the World Cyclocross and Tour of Flanders winner, van der Poel, Tour Green Jersey Van Aert, 2021 Tour winner Pogača and the World Hour Record holder Ganna in front. Doesn’t get much better than that. 750-meters later, van der Poel, back into T-1000 mode, turns on the afterburners, powers over the top, opens such a gap that he was able to take the twisting descent “at only 80%”. They never see him again and the Netherlands could celebrate their fourth-ever Milano-Sanremo victory, the first since Hennie Kuiper in 1985. Ganna surprised himself and everyone else by winning the sprint for second, with Van Aert in third.

The first three places were taken by big men (vdP is the shortest at a mere 6-feet) with big man power. The surges, the massive wattage that these racers can generate is simply astounding and a sign of what, outside of pure climbing, is needed to succeed in modern cycling.

It was a beautiful race through the beautiful Italian countryside, that backdrop that provides at least half of the pleasure for viewers – certainly this one. A magnificent opening to the Classics season, giving us all so much to look forward to. Road racing works, no matter the naysayers. Thank you, Italy, for preserving your traditions to the benefit of all.