![\"mathieu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mathieu-van-der-poel-milaan-sanremo.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\nVincenzo Nibali wonders whether Tadej Poga\u010dar will ever win Milan\u2013San Remo, as long as the race is about more than just raw power. The retired Italian champion \u2014 who rode to victory in the Monument with a brave solo move in 2018 \u2014 knows exactly what it takes to win La Primavera.<\/p>\n
Nibali triumphed in Milan\u2013San Remo in 2018 by riding away on the Poggio. At that time, big groups still came to the climb together, and that day was no different. Despite a headwind on the Poggio, the then Bahrain-Merida rider managed to create a gap. After a daring descent, he held just enough advantage over the charging group.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On that day it was not only the legs, but mostly the mind that won him the Monument. And it\u2019s precisely that mental game where Nibali senses a difference in Poga\u010dar. The Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG has dominated nearly every race he enters in recent years, but in Milan\u2013San Remo he has repeatedly been outpaced.<\/p>\n
Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n
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Pogacar was still third in Milan-Sanremo in 2025<\/p>\n
Van der Poel won Milan-Sanremo on tactics<\/p>\n
In races like Milan\u2013San Remo where the Cipressa and Poggio are not extremely steep, the race often requires more than raw physical output. In 2025, Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna were still able to stay with the strongest thanks to their explosive legs and race smarts. Poga\u010dar and UAE pushed the pace for a long final effort, but even that wasn\u2019t enough to win on the Via Roma.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the peloton rides now at 47 km\/h instead of 42, if you want to get away you have to hit 50,\u201d Nibali said to Bici<\/a>, highlighting how much harder it has become to create decisive gaps. On climbs like the Poggio, where Poga\u010dar likes to crank up the power, those accelerations are simply less likely to stick.<\/p>\n While Poga\u010dar can make a difference uphill with sheer watts, he couldn\u2019t do it in Milan\u2013San Remo or Paris-Roubaix in 2025. That suggests that if Poga\u010dar truly has a limit, it might be his belief that brute strength alone will always prevail.<\/p>\n Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n According to Nibali, races with fewer metres of climbing demand other skills. \u201cHe\u2019s used to breaking away. He wins every race through strength and power, not tactics,\u201d Nibali explained. \u201cHe attacks because he\u2019s stronger, but who wins races these days with a trick or tactics? Mathieu van der Poel. Mathieu is strong but also smart.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tadej-pogacar-6958ee8168445.jpg@webp.webp\")
How should Tadej Pogacar win in Milan-Sanremo?<\/p>\n