"He’ll be at his best for Flanders" - UAE DS on Tadej Pogacar's recovery from Sanremo crash and Isaac del Toro's E3 mix-up

The main block of the cobbled classics are upon us, with the E3 Saxo Classic starting this Friday. Mathieu van der Poel is going to be at the start whilst Tadej Pogacar is not as he is recovering from his Milano-Sanremo crash and preparing for the Tour of Flanders; And Isaac del Toro was never a possibility to race it, a sports director of UAE Team Emirates - XRG confirms.

Isaac del Toro was briefly said to be at the startlist of the Belgian classic, but this turned out to be an error from the organizers according to UAE Team Emirates - XRG DS Marco Marcato. “In the future, you’d never know – but certainly not this year. It didn’t come from us, we had always confirmed our team, and Del Toro was never in it," he shared with Domestique. "I don’t know if the organizers had confused him with some other name.”

Ultimately the team is taking to the start with Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt to chase a top result, however both riders benefit more from the flat cobbled sectors and raced based more on pure power, such as Middelkerke - Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix. Meanwhile on the sidelines, Tadej Pogacar was also never scheduled to be in Harelbeke, as his preparation for the cobbled monuments consists solely of training.

“It’s more that Tadej is the best rider in the world and so every time he pins on a number, it all comes easily to him. He’s able to turn up ready for races in situations where other riders might need more racing in their legs or an adaptation period. But Tadej is Tadej, we all know that.”

The Slovenian didn't suffer any fracture but had a meaningful amount of road rash after crashing near the base of the climb to Cipressa last weekend. However, as was the case at last year's Strade Bianche, the high-speed fall didn't look like it was a factor in the Slovenian's performance or result.

He is also not in pain anymore according to Marcato and he has made a full recovery from it, and is assumed to be training at full speed ahead of the following monuments. “It was a ‘classic’ crash, so to speak, so fortunately there was nothing serious and he’s recovered. He’ll be at his best for Flanders,” the Italian assured.