The near misses continued for Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) at Milan-San Remo in 2025 as when Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) split up the race with his inevitable attack on the Cipressa at around 25km to go, the riders who could go with him were the only ones left with a chance at victory and the Australian rider was not among them.
“We expected what he did today,” Matthews told Cyclingnews and Rouleur in San Remo. “I think it was no secret what he was going to do but knowing it and following it is two different things.”
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) were the only riders who could pull themselves back to the World Champion's wheel when he delivered his brutal acceleration early on the climb and they were ultimately rewarded with the top two spots on the podium.
"It was really quite stressful the whole run into the Cipressa, like always I guess, but when you haven’t got the greatest of legs all those little micro-efforts you need to do to stay in front and stay in position really zaps a lot out of you legs," said Matthews. "Then when Tadej hit it on Cipressa I just didn’t have the legs to follow.”
Matthews, understandably, once again put a huge target on the Monument where he finished second last year and also has two third places and, now, two fourth place finishes as well. He had prepared for the block of racing with three weeks at altitude in Tenerife in warm conditions and didn't react well to the icy turn at Paris-Nice and then a cold Milan-San Remo.
“Honestly, my legs were really bad today. I’m really struggling with the cold," said Matthews. "With Paris-Nice also the cold weather and here again the cold weather, today my legs just felt totally lactated in the cold as soon as I want to go hard."
Still, Matthews did manage to secure fourth by powering through to claim the sprint from the bunch, which came to the line 43 seconds after Van der Poel, Ganna and Pogačar had already filled the top three spots.
"With that many podiums, that many top fives, top tens, this race – as much as he loves it – is frustrating for him as well but when Pogacar opens up like that there is not much you can do," said sports director Matthew Hayman in a Jayco-AlUla video interview put out on social media.
"He got the most out of the situation he was in. You kind of have to be happy with that, happy with the performance of the guys, but we didn’t come here for fourth.”
