Tadej Pogačar could insist that UAE Crew Emirates have a line-up “ready for all of the completely different choices” at Milan-San Remo, however, in fact, their choice is constructed squarely across the Slovenian.
Matteo Trentin, who deserted Paris-Good with a delayed concussion, and fellow quick finishers Fernando Gaviria and Pascal Ackermann are absent, with UAE Crew Emirates as an alternative fielding a workforce designed to put the groundwork for Pogačar’s seemingly inevitable offensive within the finale.
Davide Formolo, Diego Ulissi, Jan Polanc, Oliviero Troia, Alessandro Covi and Milan-San Remo debutant Ryan Gibbons will line up alongside Pogačar on the Vigorelli velodrome in Milan on Saturday morning.
Already winner of the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico this season, Pogačar arrives in Milan as arguably the important thing favorite for Milan-San Remo, even when the race, at first look, isn’t as ideally suited to his traits as Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Il Lombardia, the 2 Monuments he received final season.
The peloton, nevertheless, is braced for Pogačar’s workforce to attempt to form the race to his liking by setting an infernal tempo on his behalf on the capi within the last 50km of Milan-San Remo.
“I couldn’t have requested for a greater begin to the 12 months. The entire workforce has pulled collectively and labored actually arduous so I feel it’s displaying in our outcomes as a bunch. I’m excited for Milano-San Remo,” Pogačar stated in a press release launched by his workforce on Thursday.
“The end will not be too removed from the place I dwell in Monaco so I do know the final a part of the race and the ultimate climbs a bit.”
Pogačar’s lone earlier look at Milan-San Remo got here within the pandemic-delayed version of 2020, when he positioned twelfth on By way of Roma, two seconds behind winner Wout van Aert. The next month, Pogačar received his first Tour de France and he defended that title final July.
A reigning Tour de France champion hasn’t received Milan-San Remo since Eddy Merckx in 1975. Within the intervening interval, Laurent Fignon and Vincenzo Nibali are the one two riders to have received each the Tour and Milan-San Remo throughout their careers.
“As we’ve seen earlier than, this race is without doubt one of the most tough to win and might finish in lots of outcomes,” Pogačar stated. “At UAE now we have a workforce ready for all of the completely different choices so we’re prepared for what is bound to be an ideal race.”
