Mathieu van der Poel showed himself in the initial phase of the 147.4 kilometer long stage with start and finish in San Marino. The number 3 of Milan-San Remo jumped with an early flight, but was quickly caught with, among others, Rémi Cavagna of Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl. Then it was the turn of Van der Poel’s team- and compatriot Oscar Riesebeek to show himself. His attempt turned out to be successful, because for a long time Riesebeek was in the lead with Tony Gallopin and Matteo Cattaneo, among others. In the final lap, the last remaining escapees were eventually caught back.
After a run-up phase and four local laps with a 5.4 kilometer climb as executioner, a small peloton of about thirty riders rode to the foot of the last climb. Van der Poel was already no longer part of the large group, he let the peloton drive on the penultimate lap. On the final climb Tulett broke away in the final kilometer and eventually stayed ahead of the chasing group of classification men. For Ineos Grenadiers it is the second stage victory in Italy. On Wednesday, Ethan Hayter won and Eddie Dunbar took the lead in the standings. Dunbar was second to Marc Hirschi today.
For Van der Poel, Coppi e Bartali is his second race of the season. Last Saturday he successfully made his comeback in competition after missing a large part of the spring due to back problems. His provisional program includes Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race. This is followed by the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.
Listen below to the podcast with Christophe Roodhooft about Van der Poel.
Listen to the podcast In Het Wiel about Milan-San Remo below.