Why We Need Mathieu van der Poel to Beat Pogačar at Milan-San Remo – and Why He Will

Mathieu van der Poel isn’t letting Tadej Pogačar complete cycling, and that’s a good thing.

MVDP resisted cycling’s unstoppable force last year at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix to deny him the monument sweep he lusts for.

And the longer that Alpecin Premier-Tech’s immovable object deflects Pogačar’s relentless hammering, the better.

Why?

Because the longer Pogačar keeps trying to win San Remo and Roubaix, the longer we get to watch him try.

Last year’s editions of La Classicissima and “Hell” were Mad Max Monuments worthy of endless repeat on the turbo trainer, and we need more.

Van der Poel is the stone in Pogačar’s San Remo shoe

Milan-San Remo rocketed out of a 300km malaise to become the most explosive race on the calendar when Pogačar decided to rewrite the Playbook of La Primavera.

Why wait to attack on the Poggio when you can do it 20km earlier on the Cipressa?

It’s Pogačar’s one hope of success in a race designed for muscling speed.

But the Slovenian has a rare problem.

There’s one rival that won’t bend to his will, no matter what the tactic.

And his name is Mathieu.

Van der Poel and Filippo Ganna matched UAE’s mass assault on the Cipressa in 2025, and the Dutchman will do it again on Saturday.

He can feel it in his bones.

“My form is more than good enough to win Milan-San Remo I think,” Van der Poel told VTM Nieuws on Sunday after Tirreno-Adriatico. “I’m happy with my preparation I’ve had.”

Another ridiculous cyclocross season and a bombastic week at Tirreno-Adriatico have left Van der Poel well-placed to spoil Pogačar’s party one more time on Saturday.

Like San Remo and Roubaix last year, expect a race for the ages.

Has Van der Poel mastered ‘the hardest race to win?’

Van der Poel is top of everybody’s ranking for La Classicissima.

If he fulfills the billing, it would be a third victory on the Via Roma in four years for this King of the Spring. In fact, the 31-year-old could have been on for a four-year sweep if he hadn’t played leadout for teammate Jasper Philipsen in 2024.

The saying that San Remo is “easiest to finish, hardest to win,” doesn’t seem to apply to MVDP.

He’s cracked the code that Pogačar is still scrambling around for.

“Milan-San Remo is one of the main goals of the season every year,” Van der Poel said last week. “It’s a very special race, a very difficult one to win as well.

“I was lucky enough to win it twice already, and I would love to win a third time.”

Van der Poel will level Fausto Coppi, Roger de Vlaeminck, and Oscar Freire on all-time wins if he makes it a hat trick Saturday.

Because re-writing history isn’t only for Pogačar.

It’s more fun for us all when Pogačar has to try

Van der Poel’s sixth sense for San Remo is poking Pogačar to enraged desperation.

No matter what the Slovenian tries, the Dutchman’s strapping shoulders aren’t far behind.

Pogačar has tried a crazed cluster of attacks on the Poggio.

He’s tried one sledgehammer move on the smooth hillock.

And because Pogi is Pogi, he ignored the rules of modern cycling last year and split the race with 30km to go on the Cipressa.

He wants San Remo’s circular trophy so bad it almost doesn’t suit him.

“Winning San Remo would mean more to me than a record six Tour de France victories,” Pogačar recently told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“There’s a bigger difference between zero and one than there is between four and five,” he said, referencing his quartet of maillots jaune.

‘If I’m one percent off, Tadej will be gone’

Pogačar couldn’t do the damage he hoped for last year on the Cipressa. Van der Poel and Ganna didn’t let go.

But that doesn’t seem to have put him off planning to try again – even in the absence of UAE’s key launchers Tim Wellens and Jhonathan Narváez.

Pogačar has been reconning the 6km hump like crazy all winter and lowered his own Strava KoM there earlier this month. According to on-form domestique Florian Vermeersch, UAE Emirates-XRG has gotten its plan for lift-off down pat.

“My role involves guiding Tadej and the climbers into a good position over the first Capi and towards the foot of the Cipressa,” Vermeersch told Het Laatste Nieuws. “After that, it’s up to our climbing train to fly.”

Van der Poel is praying to the cycling Gods that he can resist once more.

“Last year, he was very close to getting a gap on the Cipressa. If I’m one percent off, Tadej will be gone,” he said last weekend. “It’s only a matter of time before he wins that race.”

MVDP won’t have a climbing train to support him on Saturday like Pogačar does.

But he doesn’t need it.

He can read San Remo like it’s an Instagram post and he has the horsepower to play the climb like Playstation.

He doesn’t have the desperation and overthinking that could stymie the Slovenian, either.

All he needs to do?

Follow.

“I’m very happy with my performances at Tirreno. I also felt pretty good on the climbs,” Van der Poel said. “What we did during the stages are the right efforts and simulations I need to be in my best shape.”

Pogačar has been warned.

Let’s delay the gratification

Call me a spoilsport, but it will be better for us all if Pogačar doesn’t have his way Saturday.

UAE Emirates-XRG already has a single-season win record, long-term deals with Pogačar and Isaac del Toro, and it seems they’ve got Paul Seixas on speed dial, too.

The Emirati team shouldn’t have it all.

And neither should Pogačar – yet.

Because, to be clear, Pogačar’s dominance isn’t “boring,” and I want him to win San Remo one day. I’d like him to win Paris-Roubaix at one point, too. Who doesn’t want to witness sporting history?

But why not delay ourselves the gratification?