Matxin praises 'more explosive' van der Poel: "Probably the best in the world"

Pushing, pulling, pushing again, pounding, accelerating, and pushing again... It was not enough for Tadej Pogacar to finally win Milan-Sanremo on Saturday. The Slovenian world champion of UAE Team Emirates—XRG tried relentlessly but was ultimately beaten by a phenomenal Mathieu van der Poel. UAE had again devised a clever plan for La Primavera but was unsuccessful. Sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin spoke at length about the first Monument with HLN, praising Van der Poel.

UAE had been planning this since December of last year. "We discussed it with Tadej back then. He agreed immediately. Everyone believed in it, and everyone would commit 100% to it. We had tried it on the Poggio in the past three editions. It was about time we changed that strategy. The plan was changed to an attack on the Cipressa, the climb where UAE last year set a brutal pace for the peloton but where Pogacar did not attack himself."

Another part of the plan was that Isaac Del Toro would take over on the Cipressa so that Jhonatan Narváez could protect his leader and stop attacks. "That's how we had it in mind. Unfortunately, Del Toro had a positioning problem. He was too far behind, so we had to switch and proceed to a position switch. Jonny would come instead. Full gas." Del Toro reacted to this on Sunday.

When Pogacar accelerated hard on the Cipressa, Van der Poel seemed to gasp for breath for a moment. But only momentarily because the Dutch rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck then smoothly followed Pogacar's wheel. Matxin was not surprised by how good Van der Poel was on the climb. "He is a different type of rider than Tadej. A little less of a climber but more explosive. You could easily place the two at the same level."

Van der Poel once again prevented Pogacar from winning Milan-Sanremo, something he has managed in almost all other races. The course obviously plays a major role in this, as Matxin sees it. "This race, this terrain, suits Mathieu much better. He is absolutely the best at this. Perhaps the best in the world," the Spaniard praised the Dutch rider.

Yet, if we believe sports director Mauro Gianetti, the team has no regrets. "It's okay. We knew Mathieu was in good form and that he could give us a hard time. Tadej fought tirelessly as always, but it was useless, said the Swiss. However, another feeling seems to prevail with Matxin. "We ride to win. Third, fourth, fifth: that's not why we do it. In that sense, disappointment prevails."

So Matxin also had a clear answer to whether this was the best edition of La Primavera in a long time. "No, because Tadej didn't win. So it's hard to call it a great Milan-Sanremo.' It was another failure for the UAE, but the hate was not directed at the Monument. 'Although the bad weather during the first three and a half hours did not make it the most enjoyable part of my life," Matxin laughs.