Cycling

Pogacar breaks last taboo by winning Milan-Sanremo

A pity for Filippo Ganna, who was left behind when Tadej's team, the very powerful Uae, used Isaac Del Toro to throw the captain about twenty kilometres from the finish line

by Dario Ceccarelli

21 March 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was known. He couldn't escape it indefinitely. But incredibly, so like a true Martian, he took it when he was losing it. After a bad crash 32 d kilometres from Sanremo before Cipressa, the penultimate climb before the finish.

All scratched on his left side, his shirt and shorts in tatters, Tadej Pogacar, 27 years old, the Cannibal with the face of a boy, climbed back on his bike and little by little, caught up with everyone and retook the lead at the summit. A bloodied and bruised bolide travelling at double the speed of the others, the two-wheeled humans.

This pursuit, this desperate but lucid chase, was the real pass for his first victory at Milano Sanremo. The rest, the new breakaway on the Poggio, with the Englishman Pidock always at his heels even on the subsequent descent to the sprint to Via Roma, came as a result, as if on an inclined plane. The most was done. Certainly the head-to-head between the two was magnificent, but the script was already written. The Sanremo, the Slovenian's penultimate missing classic monument, could no longer escape him. And that half a wheel advantage over Pidock only certified it. As if to say: sorry gentlemen, but I am in another category. Now all I need is Paris-Roubaix, but rest assured I will win that too. We don't doubt it. The Martian has always been right so far.

Amazing this Milano-Sanremo! The great thing about this champion, winner of the Classicissima in the rainbow jersey (the last had been Beppe Saronni in 1983), is that with his numbers he makes each race more and more spectacular. It's true that in the end, seeing him always in front can become boring (even caviar gets tired...), but every time, almost as if to give more suspense, he invents something new, unplanned, a gamble to raise the bar of the unknown.

It's not enough for him anymore, to lose his opponents in the middle of the race like at the Strade Bianche: no, too easy, too obvious, let alone. This time, it is a paradox, he also put the handicap of a bad crash in Imperia, when by then the group was travelling like a train to position itself in front before the showdown. In this fall, incidentally, the other big favourite, Mathieu Van Der Poel, first in 2025 and a great classics hunter, also ended up on the ground. But the Dutchman, although he got up quickly, must have suffered the setback because when he found himself face to face with Pogacar and Pidock on the Poggio, he immediately lost ground at the Slovenian's first sprint and was then reabsorbed by the chasing group at the end of the climb. Perhaps Vdp was simply less fit than last year. Or perhaps the Martian was even more Martian, hard to tell.

However, the only one who managed to keep up with him until twenty centimetres from the finish was Tom Pidock. The Briton, fresh winner of the last Milano Torino, made an extraordinary run, forcing Pogacar to stay on his guard until the last pedal stroke. He lost by a hair's breadth, by half a wheel, both because he didn't have any more, and because it already seemed a mirage to be there, resisting all Pogacar's tears and the return of the group, dragged by the Belgian Van Aert, third at four seconds from the winner. The Belgian, who also fell disastrously, deserves a special mention for having climbed up the group with an extraordinary strength that he might otherwise have used to win. But with ifs you don't do anything, not even the history of cycling, which now sees, after such a long race, the name of Tadej Pogacar in its roll of honour.

"It was not the perfect victory because I suffered some injuries that will take time to heal," the Slovenian commented. "I am still in disbelief that I won this crazy race. It will take me a while to realise it."

What more can be said about this extraordinary champion? Well, that this is his 11th monumental classic. He has won them all except Paris-Roubaix, the race of stones that will be run in April. Loving impossible challenges, it is easy for Tadej to try his hand at this feat as well, perhaps by passing through the Tour of Flanders first. Ahead of the Slovenian, in the top ten of the Classics, there is only Eddy Merckx, the only opponent who, at least in the history of cycling, keeps him at a distance. Eddy has won 19 of the Classics, including seven Milan-San Remo. Here, perhaps, is a record that the Martian is unlikely to be able to wrest from him. Although with Pogacar it is better to avoid rash predictions.

It was a pity for Filippo Ganna, who was left behind when Tadej's team, the mighty Uae, used Isaac Del Toro to launch the captain some twenty kilometres from the finish. At that juncture Ganna was lost. We console ourselves with three Italians (Andrea Vendrame, Matteo Trentin, Edoardo Zambanini) in the top ten. Rather than nothing, better rather.