World champion Tadej Pogacar overcame a crash to win his first Milan-San Remo by half a wheel from Britain’s Tom Pidcock in an exhilarating two-man dash end.
4-time Tour de France winner Pogacar attacked with 22km of the 298km one-day Monument remaining, with solely Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel capable of comply with.
Two-time winner Van der Poel was dropped on the ultimate climb, the Poggio, leaving Pogacar and Pidcock to contest the finale.
Pogacar launched his dash first and Pidcock fought to get alongside, however was simply edged out as each threw themselves in direction of the road.
The Slovenian, already thought to be one of many best cyclists ever, has now gained 4 of the 5 ‘Monuments’ – essentially the most prestigious one-day races in males’s biking – with solely Paris-Roubaix left.
Saturday’s victory strikes him degree with Roger de Vlaeminck into equal second on the checklist of most Monument victories, with 11. Solely the legendary Eddy Merckx has extra, with 19.
The 27-year-old’s victory was much more exceptional given he recovered from a crash simply earlier than the important thing climb of the Cipressa to make it again to the primary group.
“For a second I assumed it was throughout however fortunately I used to be rapidly again on the bike,” he mentioned.
“Pidcock was actually, actually sturdy. I used to be fortunate within the dash, he is a extremely quick man.”
