Le Primavera: the thrilling sprint

 

Tadej Pogacar won his first-ever Milano-Sanremo beating Tom Pidcock in a sprint after a thrilling finale. He becomes the first wearer of the rainbow jersey since Giuseppe Saronni in 1983 to win on Via Roma. He has now won four of the five monuments, needing Paris-Roubaix to join Eddy Merckx, Rick Van Looy and Roger De Vlaemick as the only riders to win all monuments. 

“When I crashed, I thought it was all over. Luckily, I was quickly back on the bike and not too much damage. Tom is a really fast guy, he’s punchy, he’s fast… I was a bit afraid when he let me go first. In the end it was really close.”

-Tadej Pogacar

“I’m pretty disappointed. I was told there were 4cm… It hurts to be so close, even though I lost today to Pogacar, who is the best of all time.”

-Tom Pidcock

San remo sees Rainbow for the first time since Giuseppe Saronni, in 1983

After winning at Nokere Koerse earlier in the week, Lotte Kopecky has won Milan-San Remo Donne from a powerful sprint to win from a five-rider group. Noemi Ruegg and. Eleonora Gasparrini was second and third respectively. 

“I was very attentive for a late attack from the ones behind. I knew I could not let that happen, but we were all fast in the sprint, so we gambled on a sprint and I knew that I had fast legs.”

-Lotte Kopecky