The close to misses endured for Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) at Milan-San Remo in 2025 as when Tadej Pogačar (UAE Group Emirates) break up up the race together with his inevitable assault at the Cipressa at round 25km to head, the riders who may just move with him had been the one ones left with an opportunity at victory and the Australian rider was once now not amongst them.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) had been the one riders who may just pull themselves again to the arena champion’s wheel when he delivered his brutal acceleration early at the climb and so they had been in the long run rewarded with the highest two spots at the podium.
“It was really quite stressful the whole run into the Cipressa, like always I guess, but when you haven’t got the greatest of legs all those little micro-efforts you need to do to stay in front and stay in position really zaps a lot out of you legs,” mentioned Matthews. “Then when Tadej hit it on Cipressa I just didn’t have the legs to follow.”
Matthews, understandably, once again put a huge target on the Monument where he finished second last year and also has two third places and, now, two fourth place finishes as well. He had prepared for the block of racing with three weeks at altitude in Tenerife in warm conditions and didn’t react well to the icy turn at Paris-Nice and then a cold Milan-San Remo.
“Honestly, my legs were really bad today. I’m really struggling with the cold,” said Matthews. “With Paris-Nice also the cold weather and here again the cold weather, today my legs just felt totally lactated in the cold as soon as I want to go hard.”
Still, Matthews did manage to secure fourth by powering through to claim the sprint from the bunch, which came to the line 43 seconds after Van der Poel, Ganna and Pogačar had already filled the top three spots.
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“With that many podiums, that many top fives, top tens, this race – as much as he loves it – is frustrating for him as well but when Pogacar opens up like that there is not much you can do,” said sports director Matthew Hayman in a Jayco-AlUla video interview put out on social media.
“He got the most out of the situation he was in. You kind of have to be happy with that, happy with the performance of the guys, but we didn’t come here for fourth.”
