"It’s a race we’d dearly love to win" - Tadej Pogacar leads UAE Team Emirates at Milano-Sanremo

The first monument of the year is almost upon us and one of the two, standout candidates for victory will be UAE Team Emirates leader Tadej Pogacar. Especially after his incredible season opener at Strade Bianche.

"I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year like I had in Strade Bianche," the Slovenian says proudly in conversation with the UAE Team Emirates official website. "The team is racing well and achieving good results so we want to stay on that path and keep it going. I’m excited for Milano-Sanremo. The finish is not too far from where I live in Monaco so I know the last part of the race and the final climbs quite well."

With fierce competition from the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and Mads Pedersen among others though, victory is far from assured for Pogacar. "As we’ve seen before, this race is one of the most difficult to win and can end in many outcomes," he analyses. "For sure we will make a plan and put ourselves in the best position possible. It’s a race we’d dearly love to win.”

In his quest for victory, Pogacar will be supported by a very strong UAE Team Emirates lineup that also includes recent podium finisher at Paris-Nice, Brandon McNulty and Classics specialists Tim Wellens and Marc Hirschi.

Tadej Pogacar, Brandon McNulty, Tim Wellens, Alessandro Covi, Marc Hirschi, Domen Novak, Diego Ulissi.