From the Editorial
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday March 17, 2024, p. a10
The Mexican Isaac del Toro had a difficult debut and finished in 73rd place in the Milan-San Remo, where the Belgian Jasper Philipsen surprised the two favorites, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and the Dutch Mathieu van der Poel, to win yesterday in a end of photography.
The Alpecin rider surpassed the Australian Michael Matthews and Pogacar to succeed his teammate Van der Poel, tenth this year, in the record of one of the five most prestigious classics on the cycling calendar.
It is the first time in 18 years that a sprinter has achieved victory in a race dominated by more explosive runners in recent editions. Philipsen is not only the best sprinter on the planet, but he is also one of the few in his guild to defend himself well in difficult terrain, such as the Poggio, whose summit is located 5.5 kilometers from the finish line.
Pogacar attacked twice on this surface, but the two-time world champion Tour from France could not separate himself from the rest of the favorites, such as Van der Poel, Mads Pedersen or Julian Alaphilippe.
Philipsen managed to reach the final stretch in that peloton and raised his arms on the Via Roma to sign the 23rd victory of his career.
In his first big test in the elite of road cycling, the Mexican rider, Pogacar’s teammate in UAE Team Emirates, had a hard time presenting himself on one of the most important routes.
Although at times he had good pace, it was in Cipressa, with a 5.6 kilometer climb, where the 20-year-old cyclist lost power.
After 288 kilometers of travel, the one from Ensenada, who had just placed fourth in the Tyrrhenian Adriatic, finished the competition in 73rd place. He stopped the clock at 6:17.09 hours. The distance between the Mexican and first place was two minutes and 25 seconds.
With what happened yesterday, Del Toro became the first Mexican to run the Milan-San Remo in 30 years. The last one was Raúl Alcalá.
With information from AFP
2024-03-17 08:12:16
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