Professional cycling can be cruel at times, or at least that was probably what a lot of the top riders that lined up at Milan-San Remo were left thinking after they saw their hopes and dreams of a Monument victory shattered before their very eyes on the slopes of the Cipressa.
The infernal pace set by UAE Team Emirates-XRG followed by Tadej Pogačar’s searing attack with 25km to go saw many of those who had been labelled as contenders before the race unable to hold the wheel in front of them.
For some, it was simply a case of misfortune, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One such rider was Tom Pidcock, as his team revealed in a social media post after the race that he had been caught up in a crash at the bottom of the Cipressa.
The British rider did not want to speak to the media after the finish, so it is unclear as to what extent he was involved in the crash and whether or not he actually hit the deck himself, but it certainly cost him time and positioning in the bunch just as Pogačar was about to launch his decisive attack.
Home favourite Jonathan Milan was also put out of contention on the Cipressa for the second year running, but for him it was once again a case of not having the legs on the day, as he was unable to hold the pace on the climb and was dropped from the main group.
He would come into the finish with a group two minutes and 38 seconds down on race winner Mathieu van der Poel in a disappointing 81st place, whilst his Lidl-Trek teammate Mads Pedersen was able to stay in the mix on both the Cipressa and the Poggio, finishing seventh in the sprint from the group behind the three podium finishers.
For a brief moment, it did seem as though Pogačar, Van der Poel and Filippo Ganna would be joined by a fourth rider in the form of Romain Grégoire. The Groupama-FDJ rider was briefly able to follow the move of the World Champion when he made his acceleration, but it was ultimately short-lived and he quickly faded after only a few hundred metres.
He would eventually finish in 30th place on the day, rolling in with the aforementioned second group. However, the 22-year-old can certainly take confidence from the race, as very few riders his senior were able to equal his performance on the Cipressa.
Speaking to Eurosport after the race, Grégoire stated, “I had asked my team to really put me right in front for the Cipressa in case they attacked. I was really in the right place at the right time.
“I went for it, I didn’t ask myself any questions when it accelerated very strongly. Unfortunately, I think it's the expression, when you get a little too close to the sun, you get burned, that’s what happened to me.
"I don’t regret having tried, but I still regret not going and getting a result when I felt good. It’s another disappointment,” said the young Frenchman.
In reality, a rider will often lose far more races than they ever win over the course of their career (unless their name is Tadej Pogačar), so for a young rider like Grégoire, the experience that he can take from competing against the best riders in the world at his age will be invaluable for the rest of his career.
