Sometimes a duel arises between two, and someone passing by ends up winning. And when the appointment is at one of the cycling monuments, the person passing by is much happier, as they should be. Mathieu Van der Poel had come out with his Sunday shorts. “Which will you wear, white or black?” they asked him in The Gazzettaand he answered emphatically that, “with the current mood, white”, although he added with, “but who knows”, and perhaps through that nuance Jasper Philipsen slipped in, after all, his teammate, but he spoiled the duel with Tadej Pogacar, who finished third at the Vía Roma finish line, with Matthews in the middle to complete the podium.
From Pavia to San Remo, with 288 kilometers of route, and many nuances to consider, eyes were on the world champion, Van der Poel and the Pogacar phenomenon. The enormous distance saps strength, burns resources and clouds the brain, although the greatest know how to distribute efforts and dose energy to reach the key moment with the greatest chances of success.
It seemed at first that Pogacar, who is one of those who does not wait, was getting impatient at the Cipressa, twenty kilometers from the finish line, because he put the Mexican Del Toro, the youngest in the peloton, winner of the Tour del Porvenir, in front , to set an infernal rhythm. But when the guy from the UAE emptied himself, his boss didn’t consider it was the time. “Attack on the Cipressa?”, I would never do it,” Van der Poel said at the start.
For once, Pogacar was calm, like the one his Dutch rival, an enthusiastic follower of Jon Rahm, was having, and who these days is dedicated to watching full swing, the Netflix series about golfers, athletes who must master impatience to achieve success. So everyone waited for the Poggio, that little port that the boss Vincenzo Torriani placed on the route, many decades ago, to prevent Miguel Poblet from always winning. Once again, Pogacar’s UAE set the pace on the climb, and when Wellens couldn’t take it anymore, a kilometer and a half from the top, his boss finally tried as usual, winning by a landslide. But Van der Poel followed him patiently, like a golfer on his way to the greenand when it saw that it was there, and that there were other annoying presences nearby, the beast gave up.
Although you should never trust yourself when Pogacar is involved, so when he observed several skirmishes in the lead, he once again broke out with that brutality with which he breaks races. There were 200 meters left to the top, but Van der Poel responded to the acceleration, and already on the descent, when Tadej asked him for relief, he acted like he didn’t understand. So the group arrived from behind, and Poulidor’s grandson had the alibi of having two accomplished packing specialists to win the race.
On Vía Roma, with the arrival launched, Van der Poel retreated to a discreet background, and let Philipsen take the initiative to win. He himself dynamited the duel with Pogacar so that someone passing by could sneak in, but it was his teammate.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
