Søren Kragh Andersen overjoyed with van der Poel's historic Milano-Sanremo victory - "This is why I'm here, to help Mathieu"

Mathieu van der Poel's win in the Milan-Sanremo was made possible by the help of Søren Kragh Andersen, who finished in fifth place.

Andersen was ecstatic with his team's success and glad to have been a crucial part of it. "This is why I'm here: to help Mathieu. In the end I also had a super sprint and I finished fifth. I am happy with that. It's just really cool to be part of this team and win. That is another reason why I switched to this team,” he told Ekstra Bladet.

He continues, “There was little to discuss, because Mathieu and I both had good legs. We made it clear to the rest how we felt and together we made the plan for the rest of the course. It was important to arrive at the Poggio in the best possible position.”

They arrived at Poggio and put their plan in motion, which eventually produced the expected outcome.“It was full throttle from there. I sacrificed a bit for Mathieu from the moment we got headwind. When Tadej Pogacar went I felt it was too much for me and I followed the attack so he couldn't create a gap. I knew Mathieu was in my wheel. It's super cool that he wins after that. It has become a full-fledged party,” concluded Andersen.