"To be honest I think I did everything perfectly" - Tearful Michael Matthews close to dream Milano-Sanremo victory

Resident of Monaco, just a few kilometers away from Sanremo, Michael Matthews has every year extra motivation to perform at Milano-Sanremo. After two podium spots Matthews entered the final meters in the front of the peloton, but he had to settle for second behind Jasper Philipsen in the final sprint.

"It's hard, obviously happy with a podium but being so close is bittersweet. I think tomorrow morning I'll be happy with my performance, but this moment right now being this close to a monument after so many podiums is hard," Matthews said in a post-race interview. "...To be honest I think I did everything perfectly, I wouldn't change anything now."

Matthews' race was timed to perfection, under the radar he followed the wheels during Tadej Pogacar's attacks on the Poggio and then of the chasing group during the closing kilometers. He almost got away with a perfect plan, and when he launched his final sprint he was ahead of Mads Pedersen. It was likely at this point that he would finally win his first monument at 33 years of age, but Jasper Philipsen came through the narrow gap on the left to outsprint him very briefly.

"Obviously they were difficult, but they probably weren't as strong as we all thought through the race," Matthews said of the moves from the Slovenian champion. "But that suited me better and I could get through the climbs with better legs at the finish. "

"The way I bounced back I'm really proud of myself, Paris-Nice obviously didn't go according to plan but this is my favorite race of the year and it's a race I always like to perform at and it always puts a smile on my face at the start line. To be in the podium here is really special," he concluded.