It’s our Monday morning cycling news roundup, and we’re still breathless from a remarkable Milan-Sanremo — breathless, so we turn to the riders themselves, from Tadej to Pidders to Wout to one George Hincapie, for their reactions. We also cover the women’s version of MSR, bid farewell to Nairoman, check in on some non-Italian racing, and we ask: Will Remco make it to Catalonia?
TOP STORY
- Milan-Sanremo — Straight from the Riders’ Mouths
RACE NEWS
- Kopecky Crowns Herself Queen of the via Roma
- Groenewegen Victorious at GP Monseré
- The Secret Behind MSR’s Appeal? It’s Measured in Kilograms
TEAM AND RIDER NEWS
- Seixas Headed to UAE Emirates XRG?
- Quintana Announces Retirement
- Evenepoel Escapes Tenerife, will Make it to Tour of Catalonia
PEZ VIDEO OF THE WEEK
- The Chris Horner -> Milan San Remo Interview
Milan-Sanremo — Straight from the Riders’ Mouths
Perhaps, as you responded, Milan-Sanremo isn’t worth watching all the way through.
But the final 40 kilometers of Saturday’s La Primavera? Riveting. The best hour of bike racing all year, in my esteem.
And not only mine: Journalist Spencer Martin asked whether we might have just seen one of the best one-day bike races of all time.
The crash that took down several of the pre-race favorites? It not only made for an even more exciting race, but may well have improved Tadej Pogačar’s chances:
- “As soon as I got back on my bike, I had my team-mates waiting for me. They’ve done an amazing job. I was full of adrenaline and we finished it off…But even when I crossed the line, I wasn’t sure to have won. It’s one of the biggest wins of my career. Finally I can stop coming two times a week training along the coast for one of the most unpredictable races.” — Tadej Pogačar
Most of his fellow riders were in awe of Pogačar:
- “Tadej [Pogacar] crashed, I looked at him and he was still there fighting every way to try and win this race. I have massive respect for that! I mean, as annoying as it is, him being so good is impressive…I tried to make him go earlier, but he knows what he’s doing. Tadej told me he’s not gonna come back [to racing Milano-Sanremo], then I need a new motorbike to sit behind!” — Tom Pidcock
- “I have no clue what he has been doing, but it must have been impressive, because it was quite a hard crash and that he still managed to get in the front like that is strong. — Wout van Aert
Former riders were as well:
- “Milan-San Remo used to be the Monument for sprinters. Now the best climber in the world wins it…This may well have been the best performance of Pogačar’s career.” — George Hincapie
Pogačar paid typical tribute to his teammates:
- “As soon as I got back on my bike, I had my team-mates waiting for me. They’ve done an amazing job. I was full of adrenaline and we finished it off.” — Pogačar
And his teammates paid it back:
- “After the crash there was a bit of panic but once we got him back in position it was just about committing 100% and trusting Tadej to finish it off.” — Brandon McNulty (Pogačar’s UAE teammate, who led him up the first portion of the Cipressa)
But perhaps the pithiest comment of all came from Pogačar’s erstwhile Milan-Sanremo rival: Mathieu van der Poel responded to the winner’s Instagram post only with a goat emoji. As in G.O.A.T.
RACE NEWS
Kopecky Crowns Herself Queen of the via Roma
La Classicissima Donne had barely found its legs before drama intervened. An early nine-rider break gave the peloton something to chase along the Ligurian coast, but it was the Cipressa that lit the real fuse. Kasia Niewiadoma set a fierce pace on the climb, splitting the peloton, the Polish climber clearly intent on making this a race for the pure. But she descended far too aggressively, slamming hard into a barrier on a blind right-hand corner, triggering a multi-rider pile-up that sent shockwaves through the peloton.
The worst of it fell on Laboral Kutxa’s Debora Silvestri. She crashed heavily on the descent and was transported to hospital, where she was found to have broken five ribs and sustained a microfracture in her shoulder — though she posted afterwards that it could have been worse, and vowed to return. Hard news, but the best possible outcome given the severity of the fall.
The race pressed on, as it must. On the Poggio, Puck Pieterse attacked, and a select group went with her. Five riders crested the summit together and committed to the gap, holding it all the way to the line — with defending champion Lorena Wiebes left to lead the chase group home in sixth.
When the sprint came, there was only one answer. Lotte Kopecky surged clear of Noemi Rüegg and Eleonora Gasparrini, announcing herself as the undisputed queen of the Via Roma. Another Monument in the palmares. The Belgian is simply back — and she knows it.
Chapeau, Lotte!
Top 10 of the 8th Milan-Sanremo Donne, courtesy of ProCyclingStats.
Groenewegen Victorious at GP Monseré
While most of his key rivals were racing in Italy, Dylan Groenewegen has claimed a nonetheless impressive double, winning the Grand Prix Jean-Pierre Monseré just two days after his victory at the Bredene Koksijde Classic. The Unibet Rose Rockets sprinter produced a trademark late surge to deny what looked like a certain breakaway win in Roeselare.
The 203-kilometer race from Ichtegem had all the hallmarks of a sprinters’ day. Climbs at the Gitsberg and Lookhuisstraat caused few problems, and despite several breakaway attempts, Soudal Quick-Step kept the race together for much of the final stretch. A late seven-man escape — featuring Simon Dehairs and Kamil Małecki — threatened to stay clear, and with one kilometer to go, a solo attack from Sente Sentjens briefly opened the gap again.
Pascal Ackermann launched from distance but faded, while Dehairs powered clear and looked set to take the win. Then Groenewegen arrived. Flying from the peloton in the final metres, the Dutchman swept past everyone to cross the line first.
Dehairs took second, Małecki third. For Groenewegen, it was his third victory of the season, adding to January’s Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana and Saturday’s Bredene Koksijde Classic, leading us to ask: Is the one-time top sprinter back?
The Secret Behind MSR’s Appeal? It’s Measured in Kilograms
It wasn’t long ago that Milan-Sanremo was considered “the sprinter’s classic,” not hilly or rugged enough to break off the big, fast finishers.
Not that a climber never won — witness Nibali and Alaphilippe in 2018 and 2019, respectively. But more often than not, it was a Cavendish, a Petacchi, a Cipollini.
No longer. Tadej Pogačar has reshaped the way this race is ridden: Cipressa attacks are the norm, and they seem now to stick. And now, virtually any size of racer can podium, or even win Milan-Sanremo.
Witness Saturday’s top 3:
- Tadej Pogačar — 66 kg/146 lbs
- Tom Pidcock — 58 kg/128 lbs
- Wout van Aert — 78 kg/172 lbs
That’s a 44 pound difference between second-place Pidcock and third-place van Aert.
Not that other races definitely won’t see similar variations: We could very well see the same top three at Paris-Roubaix, with similarly-sized van der Poel swapped in for van Aert.
But it’s like the final 35 km of Milan-Sanremo were cooked up in a lab designed to produce thrilling watching for today’s style of racing. I’m here for it.
TEAM AND RIDER NEWS
Seixas Headed to UAE Emirates XRG?
Following his stunning performance at Strade Bianche, 19-year-old Paul Seixas has firmly established himself as cycling’s most exciting young talent. The French prodigy’s rise has sparked a transfer saga, with UAE Emirates XRG confirming serious interest in signing him away from his current French squad.
UAE team manager Mauro Gianetti made no effort to hide his admiration. “Signing Paul is more than a dream,” he told RMC. “He is the next big thing — a rider with crystal-clear talent.” Gianetti compared Seixas to generational stars Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard, describing him as “the new phenomenon.”
However, not everyone agrees on how to best nurture that talent. Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault is urging caution about throwing Seixas into the deep end too soon. The legendary Frenchman advises the teenager to target the Giro d’Italia or Vuelta a España before attempting the Tour, warning that a bruising encounter with Pogačar could damage his development.
“If he gets thrashed by Pogačar and finishes ten minutes behind, it is better for Paul to test himself elsewhere first,” Hinault said. “Let him do the Giro — that duel with Vingegaard would give a good indication of his capabilities.”
Mike’s take: Old-school racers like Hinault and Johan Bruyneel have more talent in their little toe than I have in my entire body, but their thinking about rider development is stuck in the past. Careers are shorter now; teams and fans are more impatient; and there’s (much) more money at stake. Seixas doesn’t have years to take an incremental approach. For a rider with his talent — especially a French one — it’s all about the Tour. He needs to go this year.
Quintana Announces Retirement
Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España winner Nairo Quintana, 36, has announced that 2026 will be his final season as a professional cyclist, and the Vuelta his final race.
Said Quintana, “[After I retire] I want to build on this. Set up businesses and support athletes. Give something back to the people. I want more children to dream like I dreamed,” newspaper AS quoted him as saying. “This journey continues with new dreams. It doesn’t end here, it is just beginning.”
A professional since 2011, Quintana spent most of his career with Movistar Team, though spent 2020-2022 with Arkéa-Samsic. In just his second year, he won a key mountain stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné, as well as the Route du Sud, and the Giro dell’Emilia.
Quintana spent years as a viable contender for the Yellow Jersey of the Tour de France, but never quite broke through, twice finishing second to Chris Froome, and winning the White Young Rider’s Jersey, as well as the Polka-Dot Climber’s Jersey.
Quintana’s palmarès also includes Tirreno-Adriatico (twice), the Tour of Catalonia, and the Tour of Romandie. In total, he has won 51 races during his professional career — so far.
Evenepoel Escapes Tenerife, will Make it to Tour of Catalonia
How’s this for irony? After an up-and-down early season that amounted to a buildup to a showdown with Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour of Catalonia, Remco Evenepoel very nearly didn’t make it to the race, having found himself stranded on Tenerife by Storm Therese. Evenepoel had been training at altitude on Mount Teide — long regarded as an ideal preparation base — alongside his wife Oumi Rayane, but heavy rain and snow made it impossible to descend the mountain for two days.
The storm has wreaked havoc across the Canary Island, cancelling numerous flights and creating treacherous conditions that locals are ill-equipped to handle. However, Spanish officials went to great lengths to ensure that Evenepoel would be able to descend — too great, he suggested: “The measures taken by the Spanish government were perhaps a bit too extreme.”
Interestingly, several of Vingegaard’s Visma teammates were also stranded at the same Tenerife hotel. Among them was young Norwegian talent Jørgen Nordhagen, though his team expected him to fly out without issue in plenty of time.
For Nordhagen, Catalonia represents a valuable opportunity to learn from Vingegaard — a mentorship that was originally planned for the UAE Tour before the Dane’s illness forced him to withdraw.
In honor of Milan – San Remo, let’s look back at Richard’s San Remo preview with Chris Horner — always entertaining…
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