Strava find: did Pogacar really climb the Cipressa even faster than with Van der Poel?

Pogačar made headlines multiple times over the winter thanks to eye-watering Strava records, whether achieved with or without the help of teammates. UAE boss Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ has already hinted he expects an even better Pogačar in 2026, and previous Strava uploads with power numbers only fuelled that feeling.

So the big question may not be whether Pogačar can win Strade Bianche again — it’s whether the rainbow jersey can finally win Milan–Sanremo in 2026. He has tried so many times, but La Primavera is still missing from his palmarès.

UAE turn it into a bigger project every year, and while the tactics didn’t always line up perfectly before 2025, last year gave us one of the best editions in modern memory: Pogačar went all-in on both the Cipressa and the Poggio, but still couldn’t drop Mathieu van der Poel.

With another showdown between the two looming, the big question is: what will Pogačar do? The simplest answer is: go even harder, and finally try to break Van der Poel. A hidden effort on Strava suggests that might be possible.

Pogačar didn’t upload his training ride from Tuesday, 3 March, but Strava segment data is still stored. An attentive observer noticed that, on Tuesday, Pogačar improved his personal best on the Cipressa by six seconds.

In 2025, Van der Poel and Pogačar stormed up the Cipressa in 8:57. The Slovenian is said to have ridden 8:51 on Tuesday — an average speed of 37.8 km/h on a climb of 5.6 km at 4.2%. Van der Poel… are you ready?