Milano - Sanremo 2024, one day monument, March 16

[AnotherArmChair]

Controversial this but much and all as I love Pog I cannot see him win this race ever

The climbs are not hard enough and unlike Mahoric or Pidcok or MVdP (Nibali or Alaphilippe) he is not good enough on the down hill to get away there and with the likes of Philipsen not the fastest to the line

 

[tobydawq]

Pog is really surrounded by all his best friends here; Jasper, Matthews, Bettiol, Mohoric, MvP.

 

[Salvarani]

Yeah, Politt would bring so much more value than either Ulissi or Hirschi.

They missed a Trentin and Politt could have been that guy.

 

[ppanther92]

Yeah, Politt would bring so much more value than either Ulissi or Hirschi.

Ok, literally any rider would bring more value than Ulissi and Hirschi.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah, Politt would bring so much more value than either Ulissi or Hirschi.

Ulissi is just bad at positioning himself and frankly just not that good in a Monument.

 

[Salvarani]

Pog is really surrounded by all his best friends here; Jasper, Matthews, Bettiol, Mohoric, MvP.

Very wholesome and another podium in a monument. I think he is quite happy with that.

He will try again in this race.

 

[jono]

MVDP closing Pogacar's second attack might have been as big an acceleration as his own attack last year.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Pog is really surrounded by all his best friends here; Jasper, Matthews, Bettiol, Mohoric, MvP.

Van Baarle is missing.

 

[Mayomaniac]

But serious, why do you bring young Del Toro, who is still bad at fighting for positions, as a key domestique to this race?

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Il liked Philipsen in the Tour on Netflix but I remember the 2 guys who run Alpecin giving him a hard time for being a joker

 

[tobydawq]

Pog taking selfies on the podium

 

[movingtarget]

It has to hurt. So close. Would have been huge for him.

Yes are being close in so many big races before but never cracking the win in the Worlds or in a monument but plenty of podiums.

 

[saunaking]

All these funboys losers hugging each other, the skirt from Denmark is going to murder them all

 

[Netserk]

I agree that tactically this was a very messy performance by UAE, but I don't think this was a prime example for bad tactics from Pogacar himself. He didn't have brilliant tactics by a long shot, but at least that opportunistic second attack on the Poggio was an improvement on how he handled things last year.

I think the biggest problem is the planning of UAE who want to set up an attack on the Poggio with a long leadout. That stuff just doesn't work if you need to finish solo. If MvdP rode that way, fair enough, he can take most riders in a sprint. But riding everyone off your wheel practically never works there. MvdPs attack last year only ever worked because of the work Pogacar did. I genuinely think if UAE had told him to attack like 10 seconds after Wellens hit the front, that would have been way better. Pogacar immediately would have had a gap on MvdP and if he can't close it right away people probably start looking at each other.

Yeah, I think Pogi needs to go from the bottom.

 

[RobertCrawley]

What's the point of watching this sport everytime you get excited and the villain always wins , I hate sprinters , I'm no longer watching cycling after this. That guy in the Pogacar thread was the real charlatan all along!!!!

Every good novel needs a good villain.

Should be a great racing year!

 

[kingjr]

I have that same feeling as when mathieu was leading out Philipsen to the finish in that slightly uphil finish in a tour stage that pedersen won. But maybe Mathieu really was gassed when climbing the poggio. In that case it was a mistake that he let go of pogacars wheel before Pogi's final attack I think. It just doesn't feel like the best man won.

It was deftly done, he bulldozed his way through Ganna and Sobrero making it very difficult for someone to immediately jump on his wheel.

 

[scribers]

the reason why I came to this thread was not because of this ciciban race, everything I wrote about Pogacar for the last few days starts from Monday, an invincible w/kg machine without a single flaw and you will see the same story at Giro, Tour and WC and the next 3-4 years, how is it when the most talented cyclist in history is taken over by a very good coach and the biggest fraud among them goes into oblivion forever💯

THE BOSS IS BACK!

 

[Samamba]

The Decathlon super powers disappeared after they changed jerseys

 

[ppanther92]

Controversial this but much and all as I love Pog I cannot see him win this race ever

The climbs are not hard enough and unlike Mahoric or Pidcok or MVdP (Nibali or Alaphilippe) he is not good enough on the down hill to get away there and with the likes of Philipsen not the fastest to the line

Its hard but I mean, it has been shown that selections can be smaller than 12 today. And if he gets beaten only by Philipsen and Matthews, he has to drop those and not everyone necessarily. But indeed, hard race to win for him.

 

[Red Rick]

I agree that tactically this was a very messy performance by UAE, but I don't think this was a prime example for bad tactics from Pogacar himself. He didn't have brilliant tactics by a long shot, but at least that opportunistic second attack on the Poggio was an improvement on how he handled things last year.

I think the biggest problem is the planning of UAE who want to set up an attack on the Poggio with a long leadout. That stuff just doesn't work if you need to finish solo. If MvdP rode that way, fair enough, he can take most riders in a sprint. But riding everyone off your wheel practically never works there. MvdPs attack last year only ever worked because of the work Pogacar did. I genuinely think if UAE had told him to attack like 10 seconds after Wellens hit the front, that would have been way better. Pogacar immediately would have had a gap on MvdP and if he can't close it right away people probably start looking at each other.

They took the intermediate between 2 different strategies and it was the worst of both worlds. Wasting nearly all of the team on Cipressa before a recovery ride before Poggio and then having 2 guys to line up the Poggio is the worst you can do.

Either you need to try some voodoo *** on Cipressa but then then you need to go much harder on the Capi or you set up the entire train and make a Nibali style attack despite the fact that everyone is looking at you.

Also, he didn't really play any tactical games after the Poggio at all, and I'm pretty sure winning wasn't impossible if he makes the correct late attack. Probably the perfect moment would have been after Mohoric had been pulled back.

 

[Salvarani]

MVDP closing Pogacar's second attack might have been as big an acceleration as his own attack last year.

Pog likely wins if he is not able to close that and hesitates/sits back. It was a great move, when he noticed MVDP had lost positions.

Then MVDP just fully dedicated himself for Philipsen after that.

MVDP was great in the end, but maybe could have used a raced before this though. I am nit-picking with that though. Great performance and job done for the team.

 

[nightowl]

The Decathlon super powers disappeared after they changed jerseys

Serves them right to be honest

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

But serious, why do you bring young Del Toro, who is still bad at fighting for positions, as a key domestique to this race?

Mou wants to bring him and Morgado as key domestiques for the Tour.

 

[Netserk]

I watched it again and what you say is simply not true. Matthews swerves quite erratically to the left when he passes Stuyven, after which he opens the door for Philipsen. But then he again goes to the left and makes the gap much tighter - this is the move that is not 'natural'. Finally though, he lets Philipsen in again. He changes direction four times, including when he passes Stuyven.

And he endangers no one.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I wonder if Pogačar will dye his har red or blue next year to see if that works better.