Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel won the season-opening Spring one-day classic Milan-Sanremo monument race Saturday.
The 30-year-old outsprinted Italy's time trial king Filippo Ganna and Slovenian great and pre-race favourite Tadej Pogacar, who was looking to add the Sanremo to his three Tours de France, one Giro d'Italia and seven monuments.
Pogacar, 26, and van der Poel had dropped Ganna in the lead up to the last few kilometres but the 28-year-old record six-time world individual pursuit champ got back in touch just in time for the final three-man sprint.
But van der Poel's sprinting power proved too much for the Italian and the Slovenian, who last year became only the third rider, after Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987, to achieve the Triple Crown of Cycling, winning the Giro, the Tour, and the World Championships in the same year.It is van der Poel's second Sanremo win after 2023.
It is also the seventh monument for the Dutchman, whose maternal grandfather was French 'Eternal Second' Raymond Poulidor, winner of the Vuelta in 1964 and three-time Tour runner-up.
Pogacar has also won seven monuments.
The official Milan-Sanremo X account said of the finale:"Breathtaking. Possibly the greatest 1000m we've seen on la Via Roma."
The winner said:"Pogacar and Ganna were two incredible opponents, but today I felt like I was having a great day."
The last reigning world road race champion to take the Spring classic remains Italy's Giuseppe Saronni in 1983.
Pogacar has come close on several previous occasions.
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