Greg Van Avermaet refused to reveal BMC’s tactics for Milan-San Remo but said he is ready to join an attack or wait for the sprint, insisting the best strategy for La Classicissima is to race on instinct.
“There are 1000 different scenarios for Milan-San Remo. Everyone has a different strategy. You can prepare your move but I think you’ve also got to wait for the race,” the Belgian said in a final BMC press conference, flanked by team manager Jim Ochowicz and directeur sportif Valerio Piva.
“I like to make decisions in the race and so will see how it goes on Cipressa and Poggio. Milan-San Remo is always a fast race and so often you can’t turn back a decision you make. You have to feel the race and make the right decision at right moment.”
Van Avermaet will trust his intuition and tactical understanding to judge whether to go with any attacks or keep his powder dry.
“There are always a lot of strong riders, so you have to stay awake, and see which teams have riders in number and how the race develops. As we saw at the end of the sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, if a group goes and it’s a strong group, it can be hard to pull it back. You’ve got to make your own decision on if it’s a good move. I’ve tried attack in different places and you also need be a little lucky. You can talk so much about attacking on the Cipressa or the Poggio but at the end of the day, only the winner ever has the right plan. It’s so hard to win Milan-San Remo.
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
