"We tried everything but it was not enough" - Tadej Pogacar left wondering how he'll ever win Milano-Sanremo after more disappointment in 2025
CyclingSunday, 23 March 2025 at 10:38
After coming up short again in 2025, the question must be posed - Just how can Tadej Pogacar win Milano-Sanremo? The world champion did what was widely predicted and attacked earlier than ever before on the Cipressa, but still he couldn't improve on a 3rd placed finish as both Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna matched the Slovenian's accelerations.
So is there any regrets for Pogacar after coming so close? "We will analyse and we will see what went wrong," he assesses honestly in his post-race interview with Cycling Pro Net. "But right now, I can say we rode a really good race. From my point of view it was a very good race and we tried everything to make the race really explosive, but it was not enough. We had two better riders today. But there's another chance next year!"
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There aren't many races that elude Pogacar once he sets his mind to it. Again though, Milano-Sanremo has proven to be just such a race. "If you look on paper I would prefer Poggio to be 5km longer at 10%" Pogacar laughs. "But it is what it is. It's a really hard race for me to make a difference, so yeah, the law of physics is playing here and I cannot do magic."
This is by no means the end of Pogacar's Spring goals though. For definite the Tour of Flanders is targeted, with even rumours of a Paris-Roubaix debut on the cards. "I cannot say," he answers to talk of Roubaix. "Flanders? For this yes."
"The legs were really good, but maybe I'm just missing the big power," Pogacar adds, turning the focus back to Milano-Sanremo. "I could try many times but maybe it's just that a few watts are missing. But it was a really good shape today and good legs."
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Whatever the result, I believe the strategy by UAE to launch Pogacar was absolutely the right one. Unfortunately, they just were not able to execute it the way they must have planned, being all over the place at the start of the Cipressa.
What a race! To see these three going at it, Ganna so stellar between the two best Monuments riders of the past several years (now tied at 7 each - what a rivalry!), Pogacar trying everything, van der Poel patient yet also throwing in that startling attack - who expected an attack on the Cipressa to be this good?! Just re-watched it, and even knowing the outcome it was great to watch. Fabulous!
Sadly he lost the race when he let VDP get a small gap in the final 200 meters - maybe if he works on sprint tactics ? Similar thing happened at Flanders
To me he lost the race when he wasn’t able to drop Van der Poel on either of the climbs. He will never beat him in a sprint. If the two go to the line together, Tadej loses.
He was never going to win a sprint. The hill isn't steep enough to drop MVDP
He can win that sprint if he plays it right but leaving tha gap was ridiculous ! A spring after 6+ hours isn't a guarantee for MVDP
VDP is best in a short sprint, so Pog was purposely leaving a gap in hopes that VDP wouldn't have enough to sprint for 310 meters at the end of 300 KM. Kwiatkowski did the same thing to Sagan at that same point and won because of it.
It's better to win Tour de France than any race. For sure Pogi, losing or podium is not on his. He's face wanting to destroy ALL but MVDP is such a great champion 👏
Tadej awesome, as usual, he's a blessing to the cycling, always fighting, trying all kind of races. His team... mmmm. Fantastic Ganna! and enormous Mathieu. What a race!
In Track and Field, there's Usain Bolt in the sprints and Kenya's Kipchoge in the marathon. Though Bolt can quite easily beat Kipchoge in the 100m dash, he probably won't even finish a marathon. Tadej won't beat Mathieu in a sprint, yet he wins the TDF while MVDP languishes in 50th place. Both are great champions in their respective fields, but my admiration goes to Tadej for trying.
Mine goes to MVDP for entertaining us all year round :-)
Stellar race, Ganna impressive in his own way as many predicted after some oddly lacklustre times.