Milan-San Remo: Jasper Philipsen takes victory in photo-finish sprint

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) took a narrow victory in a hectic finale to Milan San Remo, just beating Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) to the line.

UAE Team Emirates had hoped their pacing strategy would grant Pogacar a solo victory, but by the time the riders had descended from the final climb of the day, the Poggio, a strong group remained, including Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost).

Despite a gallant effort from Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who established a small gap coming into the final few corners, he could not hold off the sprinters, who powered towards the finish, granting the people of Sanremo a spectacular display on the final straight.

It was a record-breaking edition of Milan San Remo, with an average speed of 46.133kph on the 285km course — the previous record was 45.806kph, set in 1990.

How it happened

It was a mild March morning for the start of the first monument of the year, this year starting in Pavia, Italy, a few kilometres south of Milan. A total of 175 riders from 25 teams began the 285km route, which headed south from Pavia to Sanremo on the Mediterranean coast. Among the riders taking to the start were the two favourites of the day, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck). For van der Poel, this race would be his first of the season.

Read more: Milan-San Remo: The 5 scenarios we would love to see

From the wave of the flag, it was an aggressive start, with the smaller Italian teams fighting to get away from the peloton. With a helpful tailwind and an eager bunch, the peloton was cruising at around 70kph on the broad, open roads through the Italian countryside.

Around 20km into the race, a group of 10 riders established a gap. Most of the breakaway riders were from local teams Polti-Kometa, VF Group-Bardiani CSF Faizanè and Corratec-Vini Fantini: Alessandro Tonelli, Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Valerio Conti, Davide Baldaccini, Kyrylo Tsarenko (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Davide Bais, Mirco Maestri, Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa), Romain Combaud (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Sergio Samitier (Movistar).

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The breakaway establishes itself

Meanwhile, the favourites sat comfortably at the back of a strung-out peloton. Van der Poel and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) compared haircuts on the back of the group, and Mads Pederson (Lidl-Trek) and Pogacar bode their time at the rear of the peloton.

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Business in front, party at the back: Mathieu van der Poel

From around 200km to go, a rider each from Alpecin and Lidl-Trek took to the front to control the breakaway. Working together, they led the peloton and kept the gap to the break hovering at around two minutes for the next few hours.

With 150km remaining, the peloton began their ascent of the Passo del Turchino. Favourites came towards the front of the peloton for the steepest part of the climb to avoid any trouble on the descent. By the time the peloton had passed the top, van der Poel and Pogačar were among the front. Indeed, there was a minor scuffle when riders in the middle of the bunch were squeezed together on a sweeping bend.

Under blazing sunshine, and with half of the race completed, the riders emerged onto the Italian coast. With UAE, Alpecin Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek together for the first time on the front, there was plenty of discussion between riders, presumably with other teams asking UAE to help control the breakaway.

On the open coast road, UAE gathered towards the front, perfectly relaxed behind Cofidis. Behind them sat Bahrain Victorious, the team of 2022 winner Matej Mohorič. On the very front, one rider each from Alpecin Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek continued to lead the peloton and chase down the breakaway, who remained in the region of two minutes ahead.

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The peloton strings out on the coast road

As the race crossed the 100km-to-go mark, despite the best efforts of the peloton, the break remained just over two minutes ahead.

Behind, the peloton contracted from a strung-out line to a thick group. With the three Capi climbs approaching, each with twisty, narrow streets in between, teams began to position themselves further up in the bunch. With around 60km left, teams were lined up side by side across the road, with Visma-Lease a Bike, Ineos Grenadiers, Bora-Hansgrohe, Lotto-Dstny and Jayco AlUla among them. As the tension rose ahead of the finale, the peloton began etching away at the breakaway's lead.

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Teams gather at the head of the peloton

On the climb of the Capo Mele, UAE Team Emirates took to the front and set a pace for the first time. This was exactly the plan that the peloton expected; Pogacar even said at the beginning that UAE were going to use the climbs to soften up the bunch.

Read more: Tadej Pogačar will attack on the Poggio at Milan-San Remo

On Capo Berta, the first of the three final climbs, three riders from the peloton went down amid the constant jostle for position. Once again, on this 9% climb, it was UAE on the front, driving a high pace. Among those dropped off the back, either from the blistering pace or the commotion following the crash, was Christophe Laporte, European Champion and Visma-Lease a Bike's big hope for the day.

Back on the flat, UAE tried to keep the front as the peloton flew through historic streets towards the penultimate climb, the Cipressa. However, Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek, Alpecin Deceuninck, Ineos Grenadiers and the rest had other ideas, swarming the front of the peloton.

With 28km to go, the gap to the breakaway, now only nine riders strong, fell below a minute for the first time since the early stages of the race.

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UAE break up the peloton on the Cipressa

By the time the peloton had jostled their way through the twists and turns, UAE had been broken up, but on the slopes of the Copressa, UAE emerged at the front once again. Led by Isaac del Toro, then Tim Wellens, they set another brutal pace, cutting the peloton down to less than 40 riders. Clinging on behind them was Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Philipsen, Pedersen, van der Poel and Pidcock.

The dwindling breakaway was just seconds ahead of the peloton on the descent until a tight corner sent two breakaway riders down. Amid the disarray, those still upright were quickly absorbed by the peloton. Not defeated quite yet, Davide Bias took a chance on one more solo dash off the front, but the peloton was not desperate to chase him down.

On the flat between the Cipressa and the Poggio, a chase group with another 40 riders or so caught up with the highly selective bunch that survived UAE's blistering climbing pace. Going into the Poggio, all teams, from Ineos Grenadiers to Tudor Pro Cycling, were fighting for the front. Soon enough though, Wellens delivered an unmatchable pace, stringing out the group. Behind him was teammate Pogacar, and clinging to his wheel was van der Poel. Also in the front group was Philipsen, Pidcock and Pederson, among others.

With 6.3km to go, Pogacar attacked, delivering an uphill sprint. However, with most of the main players still on his wheel, he pulled off and settled. Seconds later, Pogacar attacked again, finding 50m on the group. Quick to respond was van der Poel, who sprinted to follow and closed the gap within seconds. For a second, the pair appeared to be out on their own, but Pidcock closed the gap on the descent, and just metres behind were Pederson and Mohoric.

The five-strong group formed on the descent, and as the finale reached fever pitch, they began attacking each other. First was Mohoric, who found a gap, but realised his chances were nil after just a few seconds. Then Sobrero found a gap, but was chased down by Pidcock. Meanwhile, behind them, more riders closed in, including Philipsen. Pidcock held the front into the final straight, but he was absorbed by the group early on the finishing straight.

Stuyven and Pedersen launched the sprint first, but Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Decuinick) emerged from the group, slid along the left-hand barrier and crossed the line first, with Michael Matthews just centimetres behind. Holding his own in the sprint was Pogacar, who crossed the line in third place, out-sprinting an exhausted Pedersen.

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Philipsen kisses his bike at the finish line

After the finish, Philipsen was thankful that the hesitation at the front of the race had allowed him to catch up in the final moments:

"I was happy that Mathieu was there in the front because I knew that he could follow the attacks, and that I wasn’t able to. [I] could follow at a small distance but I was happy that they hesitated for a bit. I have to be thankful to Mathieu that he could hold it all together and we could sprint.

"Mathieu was very strong and held it all together. We were still with two and [Lidl] Trek were also with two, so I feared them a bit. A sprint after 300km is really strange and my legs exploded a bit, but I’m happy that I just had 5cm to beat Matthews. This feels amazing but I haven’t realised it yet. It’s one of the best races, so this is amazing. A minute after the finish, that’s when I realised I’d won."

This is Philipsen's first monument victory, and the second consecutive victory at Milan San Remo for Alpecin Deceuninck, after teammate van der Poel took the win in 2023.

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