Tadej Pogačar Defied all Odds to Win Milan-San Remo on a Cracked Bike Frame

It seems like nothing would stop Tadej Pogačar from winning Milan-San Remo.

Not Mathieu van der Poel, not Tom Pidcock, and not even a crash that left his bike as battered as his rainbow jersey skinsuit.

Pogačar’s trusted mechanic Boštjan Kavčnik revealed Monday that Pogačar steamed to a historic win on the Via Roma riding a Colnago that was at breaking point.

“We only realized at the finish that Tadej had ridden the finale on a cracked frame,” Kavčnik told Delo. “The rear triangle was damaged. Fortunately, it held together.

“If Tadej had known the condition of the bike, he would never have descended and attacked so aggressively as he tried to push Tom Pidcock to the limit,” Kavčnik said Monday.

And that was only the start.

The high-speed crash 32km from the finish that also brought down Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert put Pogačar’s drivetrain into malfunction and damaged his disc brake.

Consider it another layer of Pogačar’s miracle of San Remo.

His race could have ended on the tarmac Saturday when he was the first rider down in the 50kph pile-up.

“When I crashed, I thought it was all over,” he later admitted.

The skidding fall tore Pogačar’s rainbow skinsuit in multiple places, and left his calf oozing with blood. He was visibly hobbling at the finish when he stepped off the bike in front of dozens of enraptured photographers.

Torn skinsuit and battered bike couldn’t stop Pogačar

Kavčnik didn’t explain the extent of the damage to the frame of Pogačar’s Colnago.

However, he did reveal that the crash threw Pogačar’s disc brakes out of line and caused the rear mech of his 1x drivetrain to freeze.

“Tadej crashed on his left side, where there’s no gear shifter, but it triggered ‘crash mode,’” Kavčnik said Monday. “He reset it himself and didn’t notice anything else wrong, so we didn’t change the bike.”

Riding to victory on a battered bike further elevates Pogačar’s victory in the pantheon of epic rides.

The 27-year-old became the first reigning world champion to win Milan-San Remo since Eddy Merckx, and now only needs to add Paris-Roubaix to his palmarès to join “the five monument club.”

Not even cobblestone king Van der Poel will bet against Pogačar joining Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, and Rik Van Looy in completing the monument set as soon as next month.

“Tadej not only had a stone removed from his heart, but also a stubborn thorn from his heel,” Kavčnik said of a Milan-San Remo victory that was proving elusive for King Pog.

“For all of us, it was a special race with the drama that was happening,” Kavčnik told Delo. “And to top it off, he won even though his frame broke in the fall and the disc rubbed against the brake surface.”

The comeback on Cipressa was ‘hallucinatory’

Would the race have played out differently if Pogačar knew his Colnago was only good for scrap?

A bike change likely wouldn’t have been decisive for the all-slaying Slovenian.

Van Aert proved Saturday that pausing to grab a new bike wouldn’t derail a ride to the podium when he hit a sensational third-place in San Remo.

But any extra delay for Pogačar might have changed the complexion of the finale entirely.

Longtime classics hopeful Oliver Naesen told Het Laatste Nieuws that Pogačar’s return to the bunch at the base of the Cipressa was already crazy enough given the damage he’d sustained.

“After that crash, I honestly thought, ‘We won’t see him again today, and maybe not even in the coming weeks,’” Naesen told HLN. “But a moment later, I saw him – with a black flank – already passing me on the Cipressa.

“I didn’t know what I was seeing, but I knew what time it was – the show was about to begin.”

The Pogi Show might never have aired had he started the climb 30 seconds further back.

Another race, another climbing record for Pogačar

Pogačar’s ride on Brandon McNulty’s wheel from the back to the front of the peloton on the Cipressa in time to deliver his long-hyped move “shouldn’t” be possible.

The cycling rulebook decrees that optimal positioning at the base of the 5.7km hillock is essential to solving the riddle of San Remo.

“It is one of the most impressive feats I have ever seen,” Naesen said. “Normally you stand no chance if you don’t start Cipressa in the top-20, but they just flew right past.”

And that’s not all – Pogačar’s ascent of Cipressa was the fastest on record.

“It was hallucinatory,” Naesen recounted. “Champion behavior.”

And Pogačar’s messed-up San Remo machine? That’s one bike he won’t be putting up for auction.

“This bike will now go into his special collection,” Kavčnik promised.