{"id":549980,"date":"2026-03-19T06:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549980\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T06:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T06:22:10","slug":"pogacar-has-been-working-on-this-for-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549980\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pogacar has been working on this for months\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> versus Tadej Pogacar<\/a>. It is the duel everyone has been talking about for quite some time: who will win Milan-San Remo<\/a> this Saturday? After an outstanding Tirreno-Adriatico, many analysts have installed the Dutchman as the top favourite, but Tom Dumoulin<\/a> is not going along with that. The former pro believes the world champion will be extremely difficult to beat.<\/p>\n

Dumoulin does believe Van der Poel is the only rider capable of threatening the Slovenian. \u201cHe\u2019s the only one who has a chance of following Pogacar on the Cipressa,\u201d he explained in the NOS Wielerpodcast<\/a>. \u201cI really hope he can do it, because then we could get another beautiful mano-a-mano battle, all the way from the Poggio to the finish, just like last year. But Pogacar apparently has been working on this for months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memory of the 2025 defeat still seems fresh in the mind of the relentlessly ambitious superstar. \u201cIn training he\u2019s gone up that Cipressa full gas so many times, and he has even improved his own best time. He\u2019s so focused on this race, and with Del Toro he has a climber in form who can set a huge pace on the Cipressa. I think it will be very difficult for Van der Poel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

Van der Poel almost always beats Pogacar in a sprint: \u2018He\u2019s such a killer\u2019<\/p>\n

But Dumoulin also knows one thing: Van der Poel is Van der Poel. \u201cIf anyone can do it, it\u2019s Mathieu. And let\u2019s not forget: the Cipressa isn\u2019t an Alpine col.\u201d So a repeat of last year\u2019s scenario is certainly imaginable. \u201cThe Cipressa is not steep, so if you are on the wheel, you have a huge advantage. You need to produce far less power than the rider on the front. If he can stay tight on that wheel, then he definitely has a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of Sanremo, the common view is clear: Pogacar has to drop Van der Poel on either the Cipressa or the Poggio <\/a>if he finally wants to win La Primavera. But the Slovenian is quick in a sprint too. So does he really have to get rid of Van der Poel before the line? Dumoulin thinks so. \u201cNine times out of ten, Mathieu will beat Pogacar in the sprint. He\u2019s such a killer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

Outsiders heading for the slaughter? \u2018You have no other option\u2019<\/p>\n

So should we really focus only on Van der Poel and Pogacar? With names such as Paul Magnier, Matthew Brennan, Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven, Romain Gr\u00e9goire and Tom Pidcock on the start list, there would normally be several more riders to consider. But if the 2025 scenario repeats itself, most of them are heading \u201cto the slaughter\u201d on the Cipressa, as Dumoulin puts it. Anticipating earlier is virtually impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no other option. You can\u2019t attack on the Capi and get ahead of Pogacar\u2019s move. You\u2019re never going to stay away for long there, because the pace is already ferocious. You\u2019d need to do your ultimate effort on the Capo Berta just to get 15 seconds, and then on the flat section towards the Cipressa you\u2019d simply get brought back.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the outsiders have little choice but to wait and assess the gap on the Cipressa. \u201cThen you have to hope you\u2019re not too far behind at the top, that you have your very best legs, and maybe you can still come back because Pogacar and Van der Poel start looking at each other. Then perhaps the race can be rewritten on the Poggio. That\u2019s what you have to hope for if you\u2019re Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven, or any of those riders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mathieu van der Poel versus Tadej Pogacar. It is the duel everyone has been talking about for quite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,77973,211219,85,6494,177801],"class_list":["post-549980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-milan-san-remo","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tom-dumoulin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}