"Pogacar was even stronger than last year": Mathieu van der Poel's brother indicates his numbers were as good as usual

Mathieu van der Poel suffered a painful defeat at the hands of Tadej Pogacar in last weekend's Milano-Sanremo. For three years in a row, the Slovenian has been unable to break through his Dutch opponents defenses... until the race context had changed. And with it also the outcome of the 2026 edition.

At the end of the day, the crash that occured just few kilometers before Cipressa may have caused more harm than the final ascents on their own. All pre-race favourites had to play catch with front of the race - and that played perfectly into Pogacar's hand, Mathieu's older brother David van der Poel believes.

"The effort was much longer; instead of 8 minutes on the Cipressa, it was now the Cipressa plus three or four kilometers," he said on the Vals Plat podcast, referring primarily to Tadej Pogacar's crash, which changed the finale.

Pogacar's crash caused 'a big difference' according to Van der Poel. "Then you're talking about an effort of 15 minutes, instead of 8," said David. "I think Mathieu might have pushed himself a bit too hard there. He said that the times on the Cipressa and Poggio were practically the same as last year's - his, that is. And the power outputs too, so Pogacar was simply even stronger than last year."

Van der Poel was able to counter Pogacar's initial acceleration on Cipressa, forming a powerful trio with fellow off-road star Tom Pidcock. However David already spotted cracks in his brother's armor there. And the deal was sealed on Poggio where the pace of Pogacar and Pidcock was simply too high to accept for the two-time winner of La Primavera.

Yet the Alpecin-Premier Tech could not have done a whole lot more, as his power data suggest: "I had the feeling that Mathieu wasn't that good on the Cipressa, but judging by the speeds and climbing times, that wasn't actually the case. Despite everything, Pogacar rode up even faster, with less favorable winds. Another level up," David concludes.