Tadej Pogačar is building up well for his bid for a long-sought triumph in Milan-San Remo on Saturday, UAE team management say, while a decision regarding his participation in Paris-Roubaix this April has already been taken, but has yet to be made public.
La Primavera, where Pogačar will be a lead favourite this Saturday in his fourth participation, and the Hell of the North, where Pogačar has yet to make his debut, are the two Monuments of cycling's five still lacking on the Slovenian's palmares.
But while the questionmark remains in place for now regarding the UAE Team Emirates leader's starting Paris-Roubaix this spring, there is no doubt at all about what Pogačar's goals will be on Saturday.
According to an interview with team manager Joxean Fernández Matxin in Relevo, Pogačar is in good shape despite his mid-race crash in Strade Bianche, from which he ended up winning with a trademark long-distance solo attack. Furthermore, after a fifth place on the Via Roma in 2022, then fourth in 2023 and third in 2024, Pogačar is keen to continue onwards and upwards in the San Remo rankings this weekend.
"It's true that after his crash for two days he was in pain," Matxin told Relevo. "But with the passing of each day, too, he's a little bit better.
"To be honest, I'm not sure if he is still in pain right now. We talked this morning, but we haven't analysed everything, that's a question for the medical team and the trainers."
As for whether Pogačar will be in absolute peak condition in San Remo, Matxin adopted a tone of slightly cautious optimism.
"We'll see. I don't if he'll be up there at 100%, but he'll be good. You've seen the kinds of performances he's turned in recently, so it's obvious that he'll be good for San Remo."
In terms of how San Remo could play out, Matxin said the inherent oddness of the race profile, and the fact that as a result so much of the outcome could be determined in such a short space of time - and this despite its length - rendered it very difficult to predict. But that atypical race structure was not one that necessarily benefited Pogačar, while it could help his rivals.
"It's a six-hour race, 290 kilometres long and with an average speed of 46kph… that so much can be decided in just five minutes makes it a very odd race, because in the space of five minutes, lots of riders are on the same level, and in many cases they can be superior to Tadej. That's whether they are [Wout] van Aert, [Mathieu] van der Poel, Jonathan Narváez or Mads Petersen," he said.
"Last year lots of riders like [race winner Jasper] Philipsen and [Michael] Matthews held on to the finish and you can't rule out a lot of top riders [like] Filippo Ganna this year either. I think it would be no surprise if all of these riders I've mentioned were fighting in the five key minutes of the Poggio."
Race strategy
The question of whether UAE could try to break open the race before the Poggio, as they attempted to do with only partial success on the Cipressa last year, is clearly influenced by the very high speeds that shape San Remo. But Matxin said he was not ruling it out.
"There are all kinds of possibilities, and it's clear that the intensity of the race is what makes the race," Matxin told Relevo. "Last year, as I said, there was an average of 46kph, which means that given there are also points where the race is going at over 50kph, maybe 80% of the whole event."
After San Remo, Pogačar is set to take part in E3 Harelbeke (March 24), Gent-Wevelgem (March 26) and Flanders (April 6) but Matxin was less forthcoming on the question of Pogačar's oft-rumoured participation in Paris-Roubaix.
"A definitive decision has been taken by the team's sports management, but the communication of that decision is something the team itself has to communicate, " he said. "Anything else is just speculation."
