"If anyone can stop Pogacar, it's Mathieu": Tom Dumoulin puts trust in his compatriot for Milano-Sanremo 2026
Cycling
The first Pogacar-Van der Poel showdown of this season at the Milano-Sanremo is just around the corner, and the greatest mystery before the race start is, can the current world champion dethrone his Dutch rival in his 4th attempt at La Primavera?
Tadej Pogacar is rarely defeated, but so far, Mathieu van der Poel withstood all his attempts at Milano-Sanremo. However the Slovenian doesn't like to leave any boxes unticked on his bucket list. Thus, we have seen him train extensively on the race's both key ascents, Cipressa and Poggio di Sanremo, in run-up to this Saturday's event.
And if anyone can stop Pogacar, it will have to be Van der Poel once again, believes Tom Dumoulin: "He is the only rider who could follow Pogacar on the Cipressa. I really hope it works out, because then we will have another beautiful mano-à-mano battle, also on the Poggio and the final kilometers to the finish. Just like last year. But Pogacar seems to have been working on this for months," he outlines on the NOS Cycling Podcast.
One thing's clear to the former Giro d'Italia champion, the Slovenian definitely didn't underestimate his preparation: "During his training, he has already ridden up the Cipressa extremely hard very often, and even managed to improve his own best time."
Additionally, the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider can lean back on a strong team support, despite the losses of Jonathan Narváez and Tim Wellens in the early months of this season: "Pogacar is so determined to win and also has a climber in Isaac Del Toro supporting him, who can set a massive pace on the Cipressa. It will be very difficult for Van der Poel."
There'll be a list of ambitious contenders at the starting line of this year's edition with Filippo Ganna, Wout Van Aert or winner of Milano-Torino, the final pre-Sanremo test Tom Pidcock, to name just a few. But at the end of the day, Dumoulin only truly believes in his compatriot to put up a fight against the Slovenian phenomenon.
"If anyone can do it [stop Pogacar], it’s Mathieu," said Dumoulin. Not having to create the race as compared to Pogacar, will be a tremendous advantage for the two-time winner. "And we shouldn’t forget that the Cipressa isn’t an Alpine pass. It’s not really a steep climb. Riding in the wheel is a huge advantage. You don’t have to pedal as hard as someone riding at the front. If Mathieu can stay right on that wheel, he certainly has a chance."
Mathieu van der Poel wins Milano-Sanremo 2025 ahead of Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogacar
Rivals' hands are tied
There's a valid reason to expect the race to open up already on the penultimate climb Cipressa, just like last year. That would be an early death sentence for the outsiders. Runner-up from 2025 Filippo Ganna indicated that his team is ready to open up the race very early. But Dumoulin sees little to no room for the competition to anticipate.
"There is no other option. You can’t attack on the Capi (the three climbs before the Cipressa, ed.) to anticipate Pogacar’s acceleration. You will never get very far away, and even at this stage, the peloton is already riding incredibly hard. You would then have to make an ultimate effort for fifteen seconds…"
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
- I think Tadej will be working on his new C7 TT position for the Tour de France :-)frieders304-11-2026
- Every great cyclist has at least two Giro/Tour doubles, and in modern cycling or what we call modern cycling, Miguel Indurain is the only guy to do it twice. I think Tadej should go for it and commit if he is putting up good numbers somewhere around January/February.awp04-11-2026
- the 6th TDF is a more record breaking opportunity than a 2nd Giro. Jonas can double up. For Remco its TDF. For Sexias it will be a good opportunity but as usual TDF will be his main goal For del Toro, yes good opportunityabstractengineer04-11-2026
- Well, this is something which isn't all that common
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026
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