Looks like UAE wants to start the fireworks early…
“For me, the secret here is riding the Cipressa in under nine minutes,” Joxean Fernandez told GCN. The goal would not necessarily be to spring Pogačar free for his fourth different Monument, but to string out the field and reduce the competition heading into the Poggio.
Worth noting though that IIRC, there was a decent headwind up the Cipressa last year, which is what led to the slower ascent time and larger group at the top.
Joe’s commentary on UAE’s POggio tactics are both brutal and hilarious (as well as accurate).
Got up this morning and tuned in as soon as coverage came on. Logged into Zwift at 5am and am sitting here watching the full thing with my annual Milan Sanremo tradition of ~5 hours at 2.2-2.8w/kg, then I’ll try to lift to 5 w/kg for as long as I can. Really makes me feel like I’m part of the action - hahaha
Bunch sprints at MSR aren’t my favorite, but I absolutely love that this happened. Having it as a possibility every year is a huge part of why the race is so exciting
Couldn’t be happier with the result and the implications on the rest of the spring as well as the next couple years editions of MSR
Was a pretty good edition of MSR. UAE really paid for the bad positioning on de cypressa. Still if MVDP doesn’t bridge to Pog on the top he maybe would have made it but even then it would have been hard. MVDP did a huge job for philipsen.
