"Pogacar is not used to winning races like this" - Thijs Zonneveld suggests Van der Poel is too cunning for the Slovenian champion
Cycling
It is thanks to Tadej Pogacar that the 2025 Milano-Sanremo will go down in the history books as one of the most entertaining editions in recent history. But despite his stunning efforts, La Primavera is becoming an incredibly difficult puzzle to solve for the Slovenian. This time he launched on as early as on Cipressa and still wasn't enough to go clear...
"I understand that they have to choose. They have to attack on the Cipressa or on the Poggio. There are no more places," Thijs Zonneveld also sees in his In Het Wiel podcast. In the end they struck on the Cipressa, the longest and on paper most difficult climb of the day. "I understand the logic behind it: the longer the climb, the more it will suit him."
However, Van der Poel was able to follow on the penultimate climb. Zonneveld thinks that the Dutchman is currently unbeatable when the climbs are short: if you ride up in 2 minutes, 4 minutes or 8 minutes, then he will be there, especially considering the low gradients. "But if the climb takes 20 minutes, Pogacar is better. So somewhere that line crosses, and there is a point where Pogacar is better."
Besides the length, the gradients of the hills of La Primavera are simply too shallow. "They rode an average of 37.6 on the Cipressa. Then the advantage of being on the wheel is really very big. In such scenario Pogacar really has to be considerably better than Van der Poel to ride him out of his wheel."
The brute force was not enough. "You can see a difference between the two: that Van der Poel is used to riding different finals. Pogacar rides his finals in tough races where he is almost always the strongest, where he can blow the others off the wheel. He is not used to winning races, at high and low levels, in other ways from a young age. Van der Poel has been doing that his whole life, and he is so incredibly good at it."
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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