Pogacar overcomes crash to win Milan-San Remo in photo finish

Tadej Pogacar won Milan-San Remo for the first time Saturday, beating Tom Pidcock in a two-man sprint after a 298-kilometer race across Italy.cyclingnews
Pogacar crashed roughly 30 km from the finish but his team paced him back to the front before he attacked on the Cipressa, dropping defender Mathieu van der Poel on the Poggio.sfchronicle
The victory leaves Pogacar one Monument short of the full set, needing only Paris-Roubaix to join Eddy Merckx in cycling’s most exclusive club.cyclingnews

Pogačar Wins Milan-San Remo 2026 in Photo Finish With Pidcock

Tadej Pogačar recovered from a crash in the finale to win Milan-San Remo for the first time on Saturday, edging Tom Pidcock in a two-man sprint on the Via Roma to claim his fourth of cycling’s five Monument classics.cyclingnews

The Slovenian world champion, bloodied and with his shorts torn, went down in a pileup roughly 30 kilometers from the finish that also caught defending champion Mathieu van der Poel and pre-race favorite Wout van Aert. But Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates dragged him back to the front of the peloton before the penultimate Cipressa climb, where the 298-kilometer race exploded into life.sfchronicle

“When I crashed, I thought it was all over,” Pogačar said. “Luckily, I was quickly back on the bike and not too much damage. My team gave everything to get me back to the front, and they gave me hope”.flashscore

A Race of Attrition

Pogačar attacked near the top of the Cipressa with around 22 kilometers remaining, and only Pidcock and Van der Poel could follow. The trio opened a gap of 25 seconds at the summit, though it shrank to 11 seconds by the base of the final climb, the Poggio. There, Pogačar accelerated again, dropping the two-time champion Van der Poel on the steeper slopes, but Pidcock — fresh off winning Milano-Torino days earlier — refused to crack.bbc

The pair crested the Poggio together and plunged down the technical descent locked side by side before hitting the flat finishing straight on the Via Roma. Pogačar launched the sprint and held off Pidcock by barely half a wheel. Van Aert, who had also crashed, emerged from the peloton in the final kilometer to take third.cyclingnews

A Career Nearly Complete

The victory was Pogačar’s 11th Monument win overall, adding Milan-San Remo to a collection that already includes Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia, and the Tour of Flanders. He is now just Paris-Roubaix away from joining Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck as the only riders in history to have won all five Monuments. Pogačar finished second in his Roubaix debut last spring, crashing with 35 kilometers to go while chasing Van der Poel.wikipedia

“Not the most beautiful because I’ll be licking the wounds. But I’m just really happy to take the win,” Pogačar told Reuters.reuters