Milano-Sanremo: Philipsen Snatches Monumental Success

Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin Deceunink came past the biggest names in cycling in the final 50 meters of Milano-Sanremo to score a sprint victory of the very highest order in Italy today, a few tire widths ahead of Jayco-Alula’s Michael Matthews. The victory, third by a Belgian in the last five years, came thanks largely to some luxurious teamwork, with none other than World Champion Mathieu van der Poel holding things together for Philipsen to win from a group of a dozen riders.

And it came at the expense of another champion, Tadej Pogačar of UAE Emirates, who fought to control the race for the final 90 minutes, only to end up third. Team Pogi had Wout Poels, Marc Hirschi, Isaac del Toro and others pummeling away at the peloton over the Capi, as a warning, and on the Cipressa in earnest, reducing the pack somewhat to make for a selective ride up the Poggio. An elite group of maybe 25 riders hit the final climb in contention, and after a bit more pulling from UAE, Pogačar launched a couple attacks, each time drawing van der Poel out, the second one at the summit of the Poggio.

Photo by FABIO FERRARI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

They were quickly tracked down by INEOS daredevil Tom Pidcock, and former winner Matej Mohorič joined in, attacking as they reached the Via Roma. At this point van der Poel was no doubt alerted to the fact that Philipsen had made the finale, as he went into elite teammate mode, first hauling Mohorič back and then tracking down a second effort by Pidcock and Matteo Sobrero of BORA Hansgrohe to get free. This held the race more or less together into the final stretch, when Philipsen and Matthews came around the attackers, ahead of Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek, who then watched Pogačar jump in. Coming along the left side barriers, the Belgian had the fastest turn, but Matthews made it quite close, with the Slovene third.

Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

No doubt UAE didn’t love the result, but the small-bunch sprint among elite sprinters was no doubt satisfying to many regular MSR fans, who have watched the Classics guys wrest the race away from the sprinters over the past decade. That too has been great theater, but MSR’s defining characteristic remains its resistance to control. UAE sent a climbing team into the race but couldn’t break it to their wrist. Trek had a team of pure classics guys in Pedersen and former winner Stuyven on hand, but it wasn’t their day. Only Alpecin-Deceuninck had Plans A and B ready to launch, depending on how the finale unfolded, and when the classics riders lost control, they were there to seize it.

Results

1. PHILIPSEN Jasper, Alpecin – Deceuninck, 6:14:44
2. MATTHEWS Michael, Team Jayco AlUla
3. POGAČAR Tadej, UAE Team Emirates
4. PEDERSEN Mads, Lidl – Trek
5. BETTIOL Alberto, EF Education – EasyPost
6. MOHORIČ Matej, Bahrain – Victorious
7. VAN GILS Maxim, Lotto Dstny
8. STUYVEN Jasper, Lidl – Trek
9. ALAPHILIPPE Julian, Soudal Quick-Step
10. VAN DER POEL Mathieu, Alpecin – Deceuninck
11. PIDCOCK Thomas, INEOS Grenadiers
12. SOBRERO Matteo, BORA – hansgrohe
13. PEDERSEN Casper, Soudal Quick-Step, 0:35
14. KOOIJ Olav, Team Visma | Lease a Bike
15. PITHIE Laurence, Groupama – FDJ
16. ASGREEN Kasper, Soudal Quick-Step
17. STRONG Corbin, Israel – Premier Tech
18. CLARKE Simon, Israel – Premier Tech
19. PACHER Quentin, Groupama – FDJ
20. COSNEFROY Benoît, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team

Pavia – Sanremo 288 km

It’s officially spring. In Italy at least. The long march to the most hectic of all finales is here.

Expected finish time: 16:45-17:30 CET

Primaverist of the Day: Tadej Pogačar

I actually think he’s going to do it this time. Matty should have done at least a little prep racing because the ridiculous UAE team are going to rip his race-unaccustomed legs off and then Pog is going to finish the job. Or something like that.

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