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Tadej Pogačar and UAE Emirates-XRG’s much-feared Cipressa assault didn’t convert Saturday in a for-the-ages finale at Milan-San Remo.
Pogačar was stunned at seeing Saturday’s San Remo winner Mathieu van der Poel and 80kg rouleur Filippo Ganna still on his wheel at the summit of the 6km Cipressa after he sprayed attacks over the smooth Italian slope.
“We will analyze, and we will see what we did wrong, but right now, I can say we did really well,” Pogačar said Saturday at the finish in San Remo.
“From my point of view, it was a very good race,” he said. “We tried everything.”
Even bringing the finale of San Remo forward from the typical Poggio showdown and helping break the 29-year-old Cipressa climbing record wasn’t enough Saturday for king climber Pogi.
“We made the race really explosive, but it wasn’t enough,” Pogačar said. “We had two better riders today, so eh … there’s another chance next year.”
UAE Emirates-XRG megadomestique Tim Wellens drilled the pace into the Cipressa climb before Pogačar, Van der Poel, and Ganna rocketed up the 4 percent slope in 8:45, blowing away the 9:19 benchmark set 29 years ago by Gabriele Colombo.
POGI GOES! Only Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna can follow!
Also, the trio climbed la Cipressa in 8’45”. #MilanoSanremo presented by @CA_Ita pic.twitter.com/ZOqymAmAsM
— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 22, 2025
It seems Milan-San Remo just isn’t built hard enough for Pogačar, who’s finished 12th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, and again 3rd on Saturday on the Via Roma.
Even after forcing the selection on the Cipressa, a blitz attack on the Poggio wouldn’t launch the rainbow-suited Slovenian to his long-awaited San Remo win.
“If you look on paper, I’d prefer Poggio to be 5km long at 10 percent. But it is what it is,” Pogačar said Saturday. “It’s a really hard race for me to make the difference.
“The law of physics, it’s playing here. You cannot do magic.”
‘The legs were really good’ Pogačar missing the final percent to punish Van der Poel and Ganna
Pogačar looked dejected when he crossed the finish line in third Saturday afternoon.
Van der Poel launched an unstoppable from-the-front sprint for victory and Pogačar miscued his counter.
The Slovenian is able to bend most races to his will, but as the saying goes, Milan-San Remo is “the easiest to finish, the hardest to win.”
“La Primavera” stubbornly refuses to join Pogačar’s padded palmarès for one more year.
Lost for words.#MilanoSanremo presented by @CA_Ita | @VelonCC pic.twitter.com/XtGzFcPUNN
— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 22, 2025
The 26-year-old wasn’t blaming his legs Saturday.
2023 San Remo winner Van der Poel – who now is equal with classics archnemesis Pogačar on seven monument titles – and a best-ever version of Ganna were just too strong.
“For sure there were some pain faces today,” Pogačar said. “The legs were really good but maybe I was missing some peak power.
“A few watts were missing, the maximum, but I had really good shape today and good legs,” he said.
Pogačar will try to bury his disappointment later this month in a series of cobblestone showdowns with Van der Poel.
Until then, he’ll be setting the countdown for his 2026 date with San Remo and the Italian Riviera.
