Depending on how those tests go, Wuyts is not afraid to mark the Dutchman as an outright favorite for La Primavera. "Those are stages that he has to be able to handle. Let's say that it is an extended Poggio twice. That seems to me to be an excellent practice for Milano-Sanremo, which he will win by the way. I dare to write that down now. Also add that it will be a piece of cake."
The biggest rival will normally be
Tadej Pogacar, who according to Wuyts will still suffer from his crash in Strade Bianche. "It also has psychological consequences. I'm worried about the Poggio section. You're not going to tell me that if you've had such a crash, that it's completely gone [from your mind]."
Wuyts continues: "That you don't think twice when entering similar bends that are even tighter on the Poggio. I think that you win Milano-Sanremo more in the descent than in the last five hundred meters."
Wuyts is not alone in this theory, he says. "That crash could jeopardize his chances in Milano-Sanremo a bit, yes. And I listened to Karsten Kroon last weekend and he was of the same opinion. Kroon corrected himself and said: 'That would have been the case with me anyway.'"