The appetizer is much more recommended than popcorn because the time is more inviting to open some cans and some soft drinks than to fill your belly with corn. And it even gives the very crazy, almost cycling fanatics, the option to have breakfast while Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and company prepare to face the 280 kilometers that lead this Saturday from Pavia to San Remo to decide the winner of a race called Milan-San Remo, but which the Italians call the ‘classicissima’, something like a door that opens spring and with it the classics of March and April.
Unfortunately, the list of Spanish cyclists competing in the event gives zero hope of success beyond the fact that the very early risers, while having breakfast or thinking about the aperitif to enjoy, contemplate one of the usual escapes that normally do not go anywhere other than show the advertising of the ‘jerseys’ for free through television images (Eurosport, from 9:50 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.).
It’s about the first big spring classicor rather at the gates of spring that officially begins on Wednesday the 21st, and the first of the five cycling ‘monuments’ that have always had an extra point of excitement in relation to the rest of the one-day races scheduled throughout of the year: apart from the ‘classicissima’, the Tour of Flanders (March 31), Paris-Roubaix (April 7), Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 21) and Lombardy (October 12).
The appointment with the Poggio of Sanremo
It is the classic that has always interested sprinters the most, those who believe that by pressing their ass into the saddle and giving their all in the short but explosive climb to the Poggio of San Remo they will be able to sign up. the best sprint of his lifemuch better than winning a stage with a mass finish in the Tour, the Vuelta or the Giro.
But they are also aware that the ‘chosen ones’, the glories of the peloton do not exactly have training wheels on their bicycles and a change of pace at the Poggio can put an end to their illusions of success. raise your arms like winners of Milan-San Remo.
And it is here where two names emerge above the rest, Van der Poel and Pogacar, the master of the classics and the most complete cyclist, the duo that will keep all fans in suspense. Will Van der Poel be able to win for the second time in a row in San Remo? Will Pogacar be able to go solo at the Poggio or even with a distant attack, for example, at the Cipressa, and score the victory?
Van der Poel in 2024 has signed up for all the classics, including Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Pogacar, on the other hand, has given up on the cobblestones of Flanders and will only face the challenge of Liege after the Volta (March 18 to 24) as he wants to focus on preparing for the Giro (May 4 to 26). However, after having finished fifth and fourth the last two years, the phenomenon from Slovenia does not give up victory in San Remo. He is, furthermore, the only human being who rides a bicycle capable of destroying the test from a distancealthough he knows that things have to be very bad for Van der Poel so that he cannot follow him.
El abuelo Pou-Pou
Van der Poel won a year ago in honor of his grandfather Raymond Poulidor, winner in 1961, second in 1964 and fifth in 1968. He did it to improve the records of his father Adrie, who was twice seventh on the streets of San Remo, and knowing that with the rainbow jacket as world champion will have a double honor if it surpasses the rest of the opponents.
Both, however, will have to look out of the corner of their eyes at sprinters of the quality of Mads Pedersen or Jonathan Milan, both enrolled in Lidl, or eternal contenders for the ‘classicissima’ such as Filippo Ganna, or Christophe Laporte, who will race with the leadership of Visma in tow, which is a extra motivation point. And even Van der Poel, if he sees that he is not going as well as he would like, can allow himself the luxury of helping his teammate Jasper Philipsen win, just as he did last year in the Tour sprints.
There are more candidates, of course, but they do not all fit in this article, especially if you want to remember Eddy Merckx’s seven victories, between 1966 and 1976; the three triumphs of Óscar Freire (2004, 2007 and 2010) or the epic of Miquel Poblet, winner in San Remo in 1957 and 1959. So the most advisable thing is to prepare a good aperitif (with or without beer, it depends on the interests personal) and plug in to the television so as not to miss the magic of the ‘classicissima’.
2024-03-15 09:15:50
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