“I cannot imagine a better scenario than this one,” van der Poel said after the race. “I knew I wanted to place an attack at the end of the Poggio. I managed to find a small gap between Pogačar and the wall. This is one of the races I really wanted to win. The way I won it today is beyond expectation, I’m really happy with this one.”
Van der Poel’s win comes 62 years after his grandfather Raymond Poulidor won the Milan-San Remo.
“It’s one that every rider wants to win one day. I was really focused already on this race since I started training again after [cyclo-cross] Worlds. Tirreno[-Adriatico] wasn’t as good as I expected, but I knew that I needed some race days to get to my best level and today, this was my best level, I think.”
Milan-San Remo 2023 results (294KM)
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), in 6-25-23
2. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) + 15 seconds
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) + 15 seconds
4. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) + 15 seconds
5. Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 26 seconds
6. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) + 26 seconds
7. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) + 26 seconds
8. Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) + 26 seconds
9. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) + 26 seconds
10. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) + 26 seconds
