Milan San Remo, March 21, 2026, 298 km monument

[fenns]

They need to add something earlier in this race - 5 hours of nothing much happening is too much.

 

[canina82]

What an incredible performance. Words can't describe how good is this man!!

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I was only watching from the bottom of Poggio to the finish and then I haven’t been reading more about the race.

Did Van der Poel burn something extra on Cipressa or relaying way too much (/too hard) on the flat to Poggio or was he just way weaker than last year?

 

[canina82]

MVP will be smashed on Kwaremont. Pogi is so much better right now.

 

[canina82]

Bad sprint from Pidcock and Mathieu who probably was sick. Luck merchant strikes again

Such a comment from a hater...

 

[canina82]

Someone ended up gut punching Merckx cause the frustration got to big.
It's not something i would ever advocate for, but things can get ugly if the dominance continues and his (Pogacar) positive image starts to change.

Ugly for haters? For sure. Most people just appreciate another great edition of MSR thanks to the best rider of all times.

 

[dobrien]

MVP will be smashed on Carrefour de l'Arbre. Pogi is so much better right now.

And that too.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Asterisked without Jan cristen

 

[topt]

Pog will not come back to race this

 

[proffate]

I was only watching from the bottom of Poggio to the finish and then I haven’t been reading more about the race.

Did Van der Poel burn something extra on Cipressa or relaying way too much (/too hard) on the flat to Poggio or was he just way weaker than last year?

Last year ganna closed the gap when Pog attacked and mvdp got a relatively free ride. This year ganna blew and mvdp had to close a gap to cover the nuclear attack. From that point on he looked like he was on the back foot. So a little bit of both it seems.

When he was dropped early on the poggio he didn't really lose all that much time by the top. He probably averaged the same power that he'd have needed to be on pog's wheel. He just didn't have it in that one moment when it really counted. So the 10 seconds max effort on the cipressa plausibly made the difference.

If memory serves, Narvaez kind of whiffed the lead out last year by gapping Pog instead of smoothly ramping it up, and the last man IDT did a better job this year of launching Pog.

 

[kingjr]

I was only watching from the bottom of Poggio to the finish and then I haven’t been reading more about the race.

Did Van der Poel burn something extra on Cipressa or relaying way too much (/too hard) on the flat to Poggio or was he just way weaker than last year?

I think he was about as strong as last year, but this year he had some catching up to do right before the Cipressa, which they then rode even harder than last year, enough to put him slightly over the top imo.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Asterisked without Jan cristen

Some riders managed to crash just fine without his help.

I would have liked to see what pizza boy Aular had been capable of.

 

[red_flanders]

Holy crap what a bike race!

Just watched, incredible. Best race in a loooong time. Thrilling!

 

[Gigs_98]

When in doubt, go harder. True learning experience.

Mate what do you want? He changed his tactics to attack on a climb where no favorite had dared to attack in years. He changed his training regime to focus more on classics races when his team evidently wants him to focus on the tour above anything else. And even then he had to get lucky with his main rival not being at his best and barely winning in a photo finish. If he hadn't learned from previous failures he likely wouldn't have won again and he is still far from having an "insta win button" for this race.

I understand that you are annoyed that a rider you dislike won a race he hadn't yet won, but your criticism doesn't make any sense. He did what he was supposed to do and succeeded. If you are unhappy about that, so be it, but there is no need to lecture us for why we are supposed to be unhappy too.

 

[Lequack]

Lanterne rouge podcast with Benji and Patrick

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8i0wp4DZj4

 

[Red Rick]

Mate what do you want? He changed his tactics to attack on a climb where no favorite had dared to attack in years. He changed his training regime to focus more on classics races when his team evidently wants him to focus on the tour above anything else. And even then he had to get lucky with his main rival not being at his best and barely winning in a photo finish. If he hadn't learned from previous failures he likely wouldn't have won again and he is still far from having an "insta win button" for this race.

I understand that you are annoyed that a rider you dislike won a race he hadn't yet won, but your criticism doesn't make any sense. He did what he was supposed to do and succeeded. If you are unhappy about that, so be it, but there is no need to lecture us for why we are supposed to be unhappy too.

The plan changed nothing except brute forcing with increasingly hilarious power advantages over the opposition.

And fans can be happy, sure, but framing this as some story of overcoming some great adversity is just comical framing.

And the story doesn't get better when you see a lot of other riders ride around like they can never hope to win anyway.

 

[canina82]

The plan changed nothing except brute forcing with increasingly hilarious power advantages over the opposition.

And fans can be happy, sure, but framing this as some story of overcoming some great adversity is just comical framing.

And the story doesn't get better when you see a lot of other riders ride around like they can never hope to win anyway.

Lol, he was 30 seconds behind with 3 km before hitting Cipressa.

 

[Sciatic]

They have been able to provide images with pixel density to know if Wout and Pidcock shaved this morning. The price for a commercial drone has fallen by @75% in last few years. For less than @$20,000 usd to can buy a drone that can tell you from many hundred feet above if a baby has a pacifier in their mouth and what color it is..

But it’s not the same quality image we get from the drones as we do from the motos and heli shots. Good example is what we saw today and what we saw today and what was saw recently in the Olympics ski races. The technology will get there, probably very soon, Maybe you’re watching on your phone and haven’t noticed, but there is a definite decrease in picture quality from drone shots. They may be able to focus on a sweat droplet but that doesn’t matter to me as much as the image quality for my enjoyment.

 

[42x16ss]

Lmao wtf is Carlos Sainz doing there

Carlos and his dad are fans. He's friends with Pogacar and Matthews

 

[42x16ss]

Bad sprint from Pidcock and Mathieu who probably was sick. Luck merchant strikes again

You... you... did see how Pogacar looked at the finish right??? Hardly luck

 

[Sciatic]

And on balance, the obvious impact of a helicopter crash is far greater than any commercial drone. Upsides are way too many to list, just the number of motorcycles and vehicles that would be eliminated from race courses would outweigh anything that @30-40 years behind UCI would argue. It would be a budget and safety no brainer for UCI. Budget that has often multiple helicopters, camera crew, pilot, insurance, aviation fuel, obvious increase in risk and lack of flexibility are self evident. Many sports are using them currently.. It's absolutely amazing the cost to performance ratio that you can buy off the shelf. Many @$1-3000 dollar drones you could get off Amazon could ultimately save millions and increase public and rider safety.. If that's something UCI is thinking about..
A quality, capable motorcycle is @$20-30,000 plus equipment, crew, insurance, maintenance, fuel, limitations and logistics... UCI is still thinking about it, first things first, they are debating getting a microwave for the office..

So let’s say the motocam guy/gal is eliminated with proficient drones—how is that going to eliminate the other 20-30 motos zooming around the course close to riders? Photographers, officials, cops, and in some races I’m pretty sure some VIPs are getting rides.

 

[Cookster15]

Holy crap what a bike race!

Just watched, incredible. Best race in a loooong time. Thrilling!

Thank you. A few objective comments like this and Gigs's else one could be forgiven it was boring and terrible. Whatever we think of Pogi, today was not handed to him on a platter, he and UAE had to overcome a crash and loss of skin. Eventually MVDP had to be less than 100%. Kudos to Tom Pidcock for a great ride too.

 

[red_flanders]

Thank you. A few objective comments like this and Gigs's else one could be forgiven it was boring and terrible. Whatever we think of Pogi, today was not handed to him on a platter, he and UAE had to overcome a crash and loss of skin. Eventually MVDP had to be less than 100%. Kudos to Tom Pidcock for a great ride too.

I haven't read the thread at all, so not sure what you're referring to, but...I mean it's MSR. It's of course boring for the first 240 k. I'd not be surprised if people were complaining, happens literally every race no matter what.

I went for a mountain bike ride and missed the last 70k, which was perfect. Came home and watched the finale. Fantastic!

Pogi's crash, Pidcock's ride, MVDP getting dropped, the photo finish? Two great bike handers duking it out on the Poggio? I mean sure, I was rooting for Pidcock because that would have been more interesting, but how can you take anything away from Pogi's ride today?

Pogi domination is boring. That race was anything but, I loved it.

 

[Unchained]

Nyet. Let's enjoy a great champion while we can. All careers come to a close.

Wow! Sounds like someone sees crashing, being almost caught before the finish, and winning by less than a wheel as something less than dominating.. Whatever Pogacar showed, Pidcock showed everyone that it's possible..Tadej looking really human..

So let’s say the motocam guy/gal is eliminated with proficient drones—how is that going to eliminate the other 20-30 motos zooming around the course close to riders? Photographers, officials, cops, and in some races I’m pretty sure some VIPs are getting rides.

It's definitely not going to do anything close, understand rolling enclosure and closed, semi closed race routes. Take all these early season races and classics.. Sure you are not going to reduce motorcycles by @75% but reduction overall by @20-25% is meaningful and in my opinion video from a drone would be superior in many ways from handheld motorcycle camera angle, and as significant, in skinny sections of many races through ancient streets that were made for carts pulled by animals in some cases. A drone doesn't need to slow down for a sharp corner, drones can avoid each other through onboard technology, motorcycles can't, they have to watch out for everything, everyone including each other.. Drones can stay out of the way in sections of the course where cars and motorcycles barely fit and don't fit when bicycles are present.. Paris Roubaix will be another example of were a drone... taking video, relaying information to race officials, staying out of the way, not endangering riders and fans will be clear, motorcycles and cars at Roubaix are less effective and more dangerous than other methods.. You still need motorcycles to shoooo the crazies off the race route as they step into the road in a Speedo or other stupid costume or run along with some goofy flag..you need an @300 kilo motorcycle to get those people out of the road...
No matter what, helicopters don't transport injured riders or fans, helicopters are more expensive and dangerous than drones, helicopters call in sick or don't fly because of pilot safety issues, and helicopters force TV broadcast to make the contrived helicopter rotor background sound for some reason.. Anything you can do with a helicopter camera setup can be done better, easier, cheaper and safer with a drone.. And if UCI doesn't adopt drones for obvious reasons.. Like bullheadedness, do away with bicycle weight limits for WT professional bikes.. One or the other preferably both, get rid of rules about socks and shoes.. seat angles..
If people want more rider safety, reduce the number of vehicles on the course, full stop.. Any means necessary

'It's unacceptable that our safety keeps being compromised 'for the shot'' – Two riders almost run over by driver of media vehicle at Mid South gravel

'This was an operational failure, and we own it' says race organisation in apology statement

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[aphronesis]

Thank you. A few objective comments like this and Gigs's else one could be forgiven it was boring and terrible. Whatever we think of Pogi, today was not handed to him on a platter, he and UAE had to overcome a crash and loss of skin. Eventually MVDP had to be less than 100%. Kudos to Tom Pidcock for a great ride too.

Getting up from a clean slide and drilling it is not automatically painful or debilitating It’s more the after.