Wout van Aert is the man who can take on phenomenal Pogacar and Van der Poel: "He is meticulously preparing for Flanders and Roubaix"

As expected, Milano-Sanremo turned out to be a two-man show of world champion Tadej Pogacar who challenged his predecessor - Mathieu van der Poel. Third time however was not the charm for the Slovenian who tried impossible and win with an attack already on Cipressa. In any case both men seem be in top shape, which bears a great promise towards the upcoming cobbled Classics.

"The question is what this means for the rest of the spring," former Lotto team manager Marc Sergeant writes in his analysis for Het Nieuwsblad. "Van der Poel may have emerged as the winner of the duel on Saturday, but that also had to do with the course. On the Poggio, Pogacar cannot drop the Dutchman because that climb is not steep enough."

According to Sergeant, the world champion's chances at the Tour of Flanders will be far greater with notably steeper climbs on the menu. "On the Oude Kwaremont or Paterberg, the Slovenian can play his qualities much better. Van der Poel is super explosive, but he has to drag a lot more kilos up. And give Pogacar fifteen seconds and they won't see him again."

"But let's hope that we don't watch a duel between Pogacar and Van der Poel every time. And that they get more opposition," Sergeant continues. Who should that come from? The Belgian points to the greatest absentee of the concluded La Primavera: Wout van Aert.

The Visma | Lease a Bike rider didn't find his best legs at the early season Classics and therefore returned to the drawing board: "He is meticulously preparing for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix on the Teide. To be able to compete with those men. Only: the level of Pogacar and Van der Poel is exceptionally high," Sergeant concludes.