Mathieu van der Poel will be an outsider for Milano-Sanremo. It's a very difficult race to win and specially this year he hasn't yet shown his best form. However in 2022 this was his first race of the season, less than two months after he started training for the season, and he finished on the podium.
“Tirreno was a pretty tough race. We had the goal to win a stage with the team. In the end we won two with Jasper, twice in the sprint. I could do good work for him there. In the end, the competition was quite successful," the Dutchman told in a pre-race conference.
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Whilst he managed to help Philipsen to two stage wins with strong leadouts, he couldn't work on his own chances of fighting for a win. He was quite distant at all times in both hilly stages, not being in contention for a result. The work may have done some effect however, and Sanremo is a race very different than those he's faced this year so far.
He's raced up the final kilometers now on several occasions and he knows what to do: “In recent years we have seen that you just have to have the legs to get over the Poggio. I think Jasper can survive. Maybe he won't be among the first five riders, but we've also seen that that's not really necessary to win San Remo," he said, commenting on the chances of his teammate Philipsen.
Soren Kragh Andersen and Quinten Hermans will be two further wildcards for the Belgian team who seeks a strong result. They will primarily focus on the cobbled classics later on however. Van der Poel tells his dream scenario: "Only come up on the Poggio and then solo to victory. But there have only been a few riders in history who have managed to do this.”
“Last year it was a bit surprising that I was at the start, but it was perhaps one of my best editions. I was always in a promising position. That is a start but it is difficult to actually win this race. I hope to win Milan-San Remo one day, but it won't be easy," he concluded.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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