Milan-Sanremo – Scattered Considerations

Philipsen’s victory, the generosity of the Italians, van der Poel’s luxury wingman.

He won at Oscar Freire, triumphed just as the Spanish three-time world champion did – three times. He “polished” in the most difficult moments, took advantage of the team’s strength and then made his power count in the sprint. That Jasper Philipsen he wasn’t just a sprinter, we had had a feeling, almost certainty, for some time: the winner of the Milan-Sanremo 2024 – in addition to proving himself to be one of the strongest sprinters of recent years – he knows how to make a big statement even in the great classics. Just look at some of the finishing lines – that of last year’s Paris-Roubaix, which finished in second place after helping (and then defending) the solo of its captain, Mathieu van der Poel. In the fastest Sanremo in history – the record dating back to Gianni Bugno’s victory in 1990 was shattered after 34 years – the order of the additions was reversed.

The Dutch phenomenon in the world champion jersey has transformed into a domestique, after being the most brilliant in responding to Tadej Pogacar’s attacks on the Poggio. He is something you don’t see every day: how many can say they have had the man in the rainbow jersey at their service? Few, very few. Van der Poel, on the other hand, didn’t think for a moment about making himself available, giving up his chances of defending his victory in 2023. If Philipsen managed to win his first monument classic, (much) of the credit goes to of the Alpecin teammate: at the end of the Poggio and after having “played around” on the descent, without sinking the shot, aware of having the fastest of the company a few meters away, he took it upon himself to shoot, making the shot fail Tom Pidcock’s attack – the craziest of the Poggio descent – and the “pheasant” attempt by the positive Matteo Sobrero. Also a champion of generosity.

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The Belgian then took care of the rest with a sumptuous sprint which, right in sight of the finishing line, allowed him to outwit the Australian Michael Matthews. He is the great loser of this Sanremo: already past the peak of sporting maturity (“Bling”, as he has always been nicknamed, is now 34 years old), the Australian ran a twin race to that of Philipsen. If the Belgian looked like Freire, the Australian almost looked like Erik Zabel. He hid, gritted his teeth on the uphill sections and remained close to the other big names. He set up the sprint in the best possible way, finding himself in the best position to make his quick start count. But – it almost seems like the photograph of his career – as usual he lacked something to elevate his palmares from good to excellent, to be the winner and not “simple” placed in a great race. Once again, he missed something: a pinch of bad luck when the glasses he had placed on his helmet flew a few meters from the finish line, distracting him for a fraction of a second; a pinch of cunning, leaving the path completely free for Philipsen when there was the possibility of “squeezing” – naturally without any unfairness – the opponent who later won. Yet Matthews did not allow himself to be overcome by disappointment: “This second place is not so bad, last week I was at home with a virus”, he said immediately after arriving and then collected the most awaited prize, the very affectionate hug of his daughter .

The podium, however, is closed by the other loser of this Sanremo 2024, Tadej Pogacar. Unlike the Strade Bianche, he did not do what he had announced on the eve of the Milan-Sanremo. His words, in fact, had led to the hypothesis of a possible attack already on the Cipressa, the climb that lights up the race – this year too, as always, the “spring classic” was the “cumbia of boredom” – and the last kilometres. Instead, after the sprint made by the big teams to face the climb to the top positions, he “limited himself” to having the group disintegrate by his teammates from UAE Emirates and, in particular, by the best surprise of this start of the season, the Mexican Isaac Del Toro. But then something was missing. Because the pace imposed by the neopro with the stigmata of the phenomenon really hurt everyone, even the other teammates: in fact, a kilometer from the top of the hill, only Wellens remained with Pogacar. Too little to land the blow again. And so the “Emiratis” got back up, a slowdown that eliminated the possibility of breaking the Cipressa climbing record (it did not go below 9 minutes, a goal announced by the Middle Eastern team). At that moment, Tadej probably lost the Milan-Sanremo: he almost feared taking the shot, preferring to conserve his remaining energy on the Poggio. And, naturally, on the hill overlooking Sanremo he tried: he attacked after Wellens’ exhausting pace, but was unable to make a difference. Yet it cannot be said that he did not go strong: he crumbled what was left of the group, taking with him van der Poel and, initially, also the Italians Alberto Bettiol and Filippo Ganna who, however, in the final rush had to slow down. At the end of the Poggio – where there was great surprise at not having found the telephone booth symbol of the hill overlooking Sanremo – the “kom” for the climbing record became his. But the margin of advantage over the rest of the big names was too narrow to be able to achieve yet another feat. The Slovenian champion had nothing left to do but try to battle it out in the sprint and get a third place which is only a slight improvement compared to fourth in the 2023 edition. And that he knows is a bit of a disappointment.

And the Italians? Italy has awakened, despite everything, also at Milan-Sanremo. In fifth place – also preceded by the Dane Mads Pedersen, another who after having “slimmed” could have done much better in the sprint – was Alberto Bettiol, among the brightest uphill. The Piedmontese is in form, he had already demonstrated it in the clear success of the Milan-Turin mid-week: an excellent sign in view of his classics in Belgium. And important signals also came from Ganna, who died at the end only due to a technical problem with his bike on the descent of the Poggio. They also convinced Sobrero’s desire to try as well as Davide Bais, the now “king of escapes”: he was the last to give up in the attempt at the start of the day, absorbed only 10 kilometers from the finish line after a further relaunch. And the balance is also positive for Jonathan Milan, who seemed to be the best blue card: bent into the crazy pace of the Cipressa, the new sprinting phenomenon had the strength and stubbornness to return and make himself available to his teammate Pedersen with a couple not bad trains. But at the Milan-Sanremo, often, you don’t triumph with generosity: you also win by “filing”.

2024-03-16 17:19:29
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