Should I go on the Cipressa? That would have been suicide, Tim Wellens spills Tadej Pogacar's race tactics

UAE Team Emirates' tactics were known and expected by the entire peloton at Milano-Sanremo this Saturday. However they did not pull it off ideally. Tim Wellens reveals his talks with Tadej Pogacar during the ascent to the Cipressa.

"So we were a bit ahead of the plan. Only one rider was left instead of 2 teammates, but of course it is not a PlayStation," Tim Wellens told Sporza. After Alessandro Covi and Isaac Del Toro pushed the pace very hard in the first half of the climb, UAE only had Wellens and Pogacar left. More men were expected to keep the pace high, but the team intended on saving the Belgian for the final ascent of the Poggio.

Pogacar was impatient with the lack of pace at some point, and Wellens reveals that he even considered attacking in the penultimate climb itself. "Tadej briefly asked if he should go on the Cipressa, but that would have been suicide," his teammate comments.

What went wrong was the lack of positioning and a few missing men at the bottom of Cipressa. "We expected Hirschi or Ulissi at the Cipressa, but they were no longer there," team DS Mauro Gianetti added. "That is of course sport. Isaac did great, but Wellens had to work a bit and so he lacked some energy for the Poggio."