Cycling-Philipsen wins fastest ever Milan-Sanremo in photo finish (updated)

Deceuninck NV

16/03/2024 16:16

(Adds details and quotes)
       March 16 (Reuters) - Jasper Philipsen of
Alpecin-Deceuninck won the fastest ever Milan-Sanremo Classic in
a photo finish on Saturday to claim the first Monument of the
season, a 288-km ride from Pavia to Sanremo.
        In what had been billed as a battle between last year's
winner Mathieu van der Poel and five-times Monuments winner
Tadej Pogacar, it was Philipsen who surged ahead in the sprint
on the final kilometre to clinch victory after nearly six hours
and 15 minutes.
        The average speed was measured at 46.11 kph, breaking
the record set by Gianni Bugno 34 years ago when he averaged
45.8 kph.
  
        "It's an incredible feeling to win Milan-Sanremo. It
makes me really proud and happy, especially after the lead out I
got from Mathieu van der Poel," Philipsen said in a post-race
interview.
  
        "It was a fast race all day but I was feeling very good
all the time. I believed in myself but everything had to go to
perfection. I managed to come back."
  
    Pogacar had launched an attack with 5.8 km to go, with Van
der Poel chasing him on the final descent from the summit of the
Poggio before Bahrain Victorious's Matej Mohoric attempted an
attack of his own.
    However, the final kilometre saw Bora-Hansgrohe's Matteo
Sobrero and Ineos Grenadiers' Thomas Pidcock attempt to lead.
        But Belgian Philipsen squeezed between Jayco-AlUla's
Michael Matthews and the barrier to take the win while Pogacar
was third for UAE Team Emirates.
        The photo finish captured Philipsen's front tyre just
centimetres in front of Matthews's bike.
  
        "I wasn't used to a sprint after 300km and I could feel
the difference," added Philipsen, whose previous best finish at
a Monument was second at Paris–Roubaix last year.
  
        "I didn't expect Michael Matthews to be that good but
I'm glad I managed to beat him."
  
        Pogacar, who has yet to win the Milan-Sanremo Classic,
tried to attack twice in the final stages but had to settle for
third.
  
        "We had a plan and we stuck to it. But we missed a
little bit, maybe 10%," the Slovenian said.
  
        "I tried two times to attack; I had incredible legs but
this year was not hard enough for it to be a climber's race. I
think I did everything I could to be third place. In this
situation I couldn't have done much better but it was close."
  
    Milan-Sanremo is the longest Monument race. The other
Monument races are the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix,
Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia.

 (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare
Fallon)
 ((Rohith.Nair@thomsonreuters.com | Twitter: @RohithNair;))