Pogacar and Van der Poel beware! Besides Ganna, Van Aert also writes visit to Italy on his calendar?
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Follow us on GoogleThe battle between Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel on the Cipressa and Poggio in Milano-Sanremo was without a doubt one of the most beautiful cycling moments of 2025. Filippo Ganna also mixed in the debates and even came second. Pogacar will return in 2026 anyway and Ganna has also been given the green light. And the winner of Milano-Sanremo in 2020 may also be there!
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It is not surprising that Pogacar is going for Milano-Sanremo in 2026. The Slovenian world champion of UAE Emirates-XRG has been trying to add La Primavera to his palmares for years now, but where he succeeded in almost all other races, he did not succeed on the Via Roma in Sanremo. In 2025 he was the closest, but could not drop Van der Poel on the Poggio.
In his goal of riding a full palmares together, Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix return to Pogacar as major goals in the spring in 2026. Van der Poel already won both of them, but will normally be there anyway. And Ganna? Who pledged in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I came close and showed that I can compete. A split second can make the difference.'
With exactly that mindset, Ganna will crank up his coffee grinder again, to be just in the lead on the Poggio and then maybe just win. 'I finished second too often last year. I would like to win more and although I will be 30 in 2026, I think I can still make a step forward. I want to ride to win in every race I start.'
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Ganna still came back in 2025 after the Poggio and sprinted to place two, ahead of Pogacar and behind Van der Poel.
'Van Aert adds Italian block to his calendar again'
The news from Pogacar and Ganna was followed up Tuesday morning by an HLN article revealing Wout van Aert's possible program. And the Belgian, as we could already see from his Strava data, seems to be taking a slightly different approach next season. His calendar would again have room for an Italian block.
Van Aert was always there at Milano-Sanremo from 2019 to 2023, winning in 2020 and finishing third in 2021 and 2023. He also did Strade Bianche two weeks earlier in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, winning in 2020 and twice finishing third in the first two editions. Both Italian races return to his schedule in 2026.
With Pogacar, Van der Poel, Ganna ánd Van Aert over the Poggio? It just might be... Besides Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo, we can normally expect the Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. In the summer, he will do the Tour de France, followed by the Vuelta a España toward the World Championships in Montreal.
Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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