OPINION | The main conclusion of an historical Milano-Sanremo - Cycling needs Jonas Vingegaard
Cycling
Milano - Sanremo 2025 has entered the cycling history books by the front door. Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Filippo Ganna left a memorable battle that began in Cipressa, intensified on the Poggio, and capitulated in an unforgettable sprint at Via Roma.
Even with the hangover from the race, there is one big main conclusion that trumps them all when it comes to the health of the sport as a competition: Cycling needs Jonas Vingegaard.
The final 30 kilometers of Milano - Sanremo will be remembered for a lifetime. It all started with Tadej Pogacar's attack on Cipressa, which only his two rivals could follow. As a result, he broke the all-time record on the climb, going under 9 minutes and finishing in 8:55.
Pogacar had practically the perfect race to win. The Slovenian was coming off a few months in which he has been completely unbeatable. When he attacked, no one was able to get by him. Rivals were beginning to feel that the UAE star had become an invincible rider. Until Van der Poel proved again that, despite everything, he is still human.
What does this have to do with Vingegaard? It is very spectacular to see Tadej Pogacar win races with such ease. But none of the ones he's taken, not even the 2024 World Championships with an attack with 100 kilometers to go, is as nice as one where you find the rivalry he's had in this Milan-San Remo.
Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel arrived at the Poggio face to face. On the climb, the Slovenian attacked more than 5 times, trying to go solo because he knew he had little chance in the sprint. But not a single move hurt the Dutchman. In fact, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider said after his victory that he knew he had the win in the bag as soon as they crested the climb.
That's why, for fans, the best thing that could happen is that Jonas Vingegaard returns to his best. Battles like the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France are much more beneficial to cycling than the 2024 edition, where Pogacar won outright with 6 stage wins under his belt in addition.
Cycling, like any sport, thrives on the best rivalries. Vingegaard's 2025 has not started particularly well. He won the Volta ao Algarve on the last day and suffered badly throughout the race. Then, in Paris-Nice, he was beaten by João Almeida in the first summit finish. He also abandoned the race due to a crash when he was leading the general classification and will not be racing the Volta a Catalunya either as a result.
The Dane's next race (confirmed, he hasn't necessarily finished his spring schedule, ed.) will already be the Criterium du Dauphiné, where Tadej Pogacar will also ride this year. The mythical preparation race for the Tour de France will feel more crucial than ever this 2025.
All the fans hope and need Vingegaard to be able to match Pogacar as well as Mathieu van der Poel has been in this Milano - Sanremo. In addition, it is worth remembering that they will also face each other in the Vuelta a España, barring any surprises, and in the World Championships. So, if all goes well, in 2025 alone there will be 4 new chapters of the rivalry between the two superstars.
Original: Jorge Borreguero
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
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.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
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)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
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