It is no surprise that Wout van Aert would receive 3 stars from the Sporza jury for Milan-Sanremo. But who else has gotten a place on the list of eye-catchers?
3 stars: the cyclo-cross riders
Wout van Aert could of course not be missing from this list with 3 stars, certainly not after his triumphal march a week ago in the Strade Bianche.
That Mathieu van der Poel is also allowed to sit at the top of the pyramid is perhaps more of a surprise. Not because the Dutchman makes his debut in Milan-Sanremo, but because he did not make the best turn in the Strade. Was that a one-time slip-up?
2 stars: inevitable Van Avermaet
Greg Van Avermaet claims a leading role in almost every list of stars in the spring (now fall). That is no different now, although Van Avermaet never got further than 5th place in his previous 12 participations in Sanremo. Do the puzzle pieces sometimes fall into each other?
They did that once for Arnaud Démare, in 2016. In Milan-Turin he proved to be in good shape again. We have not yet seen that proof from Peter Sagan, although the Slovak is always good in Sanremo. He has already reached the top 5 5 times, but he has never been numero uno.
1 star: sprinters and … Gilbert!
The key question for Milan-Sanremo every year is: will the sprinters survive the Poggio? If they do, then the Sporza jury mainly believes in the chances of Caleb Ewan, Fernando Gaviria and Sonny Colbrelli. Fast men who have proven to be able to digest a climb well in the past.
One who certainly cannot speculate on his sprint is Philippe Gilbert. His presence on this list may be more of a wish than an educated guess, but who dares to bet against someone like Gilbert? A man with a plan: filling a gap in his honor roll with Milan-Sanremo.
