"Within a kilometer he's already closed that twenty-second gap, how is that even possible?" Astana rider in awe of how Van der Poel recovered from crash to fly up the Cipressa

Saturday's Milano-Sanremo was not just spectacular from the front. Further back in the bunch, riders were living through their own version of the race: crashes, desperate chases and a Cipressa that blew everyone apart. Mike Teunissen, who finished 14th, shared his thoughts about what he saw up close.

Like many others, Teunissen did not have the race he had hoped for. The crash that took down Pogacar, Van Aert and Van der Poel also swept him up. "I was caught up in that crash, with all the big names. It's always crowded here in Sanremo, and 99 times out of 100 it goes well, but yeah, that one time… there were a lot of big names down there, and that was pretty striking," he told IDL Pro Cycling.

What happened exactly to Van der Poel in that crash remains unclear even to those who were right there. "I don't know exactly what happened either. But that's how it goes in a peloton: they get tangled up and they go down," Teunissen explained.

After the crash, Teunissen found himself in the first chase group alongside Van der Poel, just behind the peloton. But when the Cipressa began, what he witnessed from his compatriot was something else entirely. "I've been riding flat out for five kilometers — and I mean really flat out — right on the wheel of those guys," he said. And yet Van der Poel simply rode away from him as if on a different planet.

"And then we start the Cipressa, we're riding as hard as we can, and within a kilometer he's already closed that twenty-second gap. And he's right at the front: how is that even possible?" Teunissen said. He eventually dropped off Van der Poel's wheel and linked up with Wout van Aert and Jorgenson, who managed to bridge back to the peloton. "That put him back in the race, which was a stroke of luck," he admitted.

From there, though, catching the three leaders was always going to be a long shot. "It all happens too quickly to let them catch up. If there were still ten kilometers of flat terrain left, it might have been possible," Teunissen explained.

As for the Poggio, he had a clear-eyed view of why nobody could make a difference there. "Especially when the pace is that fast on the Cipressa, everyone's completely spent by the time they hit the Poggio. Actually, no one gets dropped there, except for the guys who've been leading the pack. The Cipressa — that's the problem."

Teunissen ended up finishing 14th, caught up in the sprint for the minor placings rather than challenging for the top ten he still dreams of. "That sprint is always a bit special here, but I didn't get a chance to go for it. I actually still hope to finish in the top ten here someday," he said.

But perhaps the most telling moment of his race was seeing Van der Poel get caught in the final meters and still have the presence of mind to sprint for a top ten finish. "What's even more impressive: Mathieu van der Poel gets caught in the final stretch, but still has the sense to sprint for the top ten. That takes real character," Teunissen concluded.