The first monument of the year lands in the cycling season with much expectation. Milano-Sanremo 2025 takes place this Saturday, with one of its best narratives in recent years.
Tadej Pogacar arrives as the main star of the list of participants. The Slovenian has not yet won this race, and it is one of his main goals for the whole course. However, the UAE star will not have it easy. Names like Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Tom Pidcock, Filippo Ganna, Michael Matthews, Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij, Biniam Girmay, Maxim van Gils, Matej Mohoric, Julian Alaphilippe,..., will make the race difficult for him at the highest levels of demand.
In fact, Pogacar is not even the top favourite to win. For that reason, in this article we analyze the 5 big rivals that the UAE Team Emirates - XRG superstar will have to win the Milano-Sanremo for the first time. It is worth mentioning that Philipsen does not enter here, because, although he has confirmed that he will be at the start, the Belgian has just suffered a crash in the Nokere Koerse last Wednesday, and his form is not the best. If he were at 100%, he would certainly be among the Slovenian's top 5 contenders.
1. Mathieu van der Poel
The great candidate for victory. The Dutchman is considered the only rider capable of beating Tadej Pogacar in the most important one-day races of the calendar. The Cipressa and Poggio climbs are not hard enough for the Slovenian to leave Van der Poel. In the last few years he tried and tried, and never was he able to do it.
Actually, Pogacar will have a chance if he manages to go solo. That's why it's so difficult for him. Arriving with a reduced group of very fast men makes things very difficult for him. And that's also why the plan that has been talked about in UAE is to do Cipressa in less than 9 minutes, which would be barbaric. But then, to beat Mathieu van der Poel, he should leave him on the Poggio, which is the hardest.
2. Mads Pedersen
The Lidl-Trek star is another strong contender for victory. The Dane will have the chance to win in a reduced bunch sprint. His task will be to get through Cipressa and Poggio with enough fuel, and in the leading group. There is no reason to doubt the level of Pedersen, who in fact will arrive at Milano-Sanremo in spectacular form. In Paris-Nice he was one of the stars of the Race to the Sun. He won an incredible stage, took the points classification, and on the last day led a solo breakaway where only a final wall kept him out of the fight to win yet another stage.
3. Tom Pidcock
Tom Pidcock's advantage for Milano-Sanremo is his great climbing and sprinting ability. In the finish, the Brit is potentially faster than Pogacar. At Strade Bianche he was the only one to follow the Slovenian's first attack, with which he led until 19 km to the finish, where a second attack by Pogacar in the penultimate sector of sterrato already sentenced him. With the low demands of Cipressa and Poggio, Pidcock will have to focus on following the Slovenian and Mathieu van der Poel, as advised by Vincenzo Nibali.
Tom Pidcock with Tadej Pogacar at Strade Bianche 2025.
4. Filippo Ganna
In one of his best moments of form, Ganna arrives at Milano-Sanremo as another big favourite. In Tirreno Adriatico he finished second overall, only behind Juan Ayuso and after keeping the maglia azzurra from the first stage to the last. After having been second in this same race in 2023, the Milano-Sanremo course seems ideal for his characteristics. This could be the victory that marks a turning point in his career and consolidates him as one of the best classics riders in the world.
5. Michael Matthews
The Jayco-AlUla rider and Tadej Pogacar are great friends, perhaps the best in the peloton who are not teammates. But this Saturday the Australian will be one of the riders the Slovenian won't even want to see in the paint. Last year, Matthews finished 2nd in the reduced sprint with Jasper Philipsen, winner, and Pogacar himself, 3rd. At 34 years old, Michael Matthews will be looking for victory in his 12th appearance at Milano-Sanremo. In addition to his second place in 2024, he finished 3rd in 2015 and 2020. If he manages to arrive in the leading group, he will be another favourite to win the sprint to the finish.
📍 𝐶𝑖𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎, 𝑃𝑜𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑜.
— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 20, 2025
🖊️ History.
📍 𝐶𝑖𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎, 𝑃𝑜𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑜.
🖊️ Storia.
#MilanoSanremo | #SanremoWomen presented by @CA_Ita pic.twitter.com/p3q37BWQX0
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
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