Tadej Pogacar has done it: he won the Milan-Sanremo. The Classicissima, once again, has given us a heart-pounding finale that the world champion made even more spectacular. The Slovenian, who crashed before the Cipressa, made his way back into the group of the best and then blew it apart with his classic attacks.

On the Cipressa, only a brilliant Tom Pidcock and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel, who had also previously hit the ground, managed to stay with him, though the latter had to give way on the Poggio. The British double Olympic mountain bike champion couldn't put him in difficulty on the descent and, in the end, had to surrender by half a wheel in the sprint that rewarded the world champion.

Third place went to Wout van Aert, who also crashed in the massive pile-up involving Pogacar and MVDP, and who launched a fine attack from a finisher's position 1.5 km from the finish. Mads Pedersen controlled the group, impressive in his lightning-quick return from injury. Filippo Ganna had to abandon his dreams of glory on the Poggio. Flying the Italian flag were Andrea Vendrame, 6th, Matteo Trentin 9th, and Edoardo Zambanini 10th.

Tadej Pogacar shatters the Spring myth and with this victory reaches 11 Monuments won. Now he's only missing Paris-Roubaix...

THE RACE - At the second kilometer of racing, nine men went clear: Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar Team), Manlio Moro (Movistar Team), Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk), David Lozano (Team Novo Nordisk), Alexy Faure Prost (Team Picnic PostNL), Dario Igor Belletta (Team Polti VisitMalta) and Mirco Maestri (Team Polti VisitMalta). With regular changes, the leading group quickly built up an advantage of over two minutes.

The peloton, led by Alpecin Premier Tech, let them go while maintaining the advantage of the brave riders under 4 minutes. Just before entering Voghera, the advantage was measured at 2'42"; at the same time, race radio reported the crash and withdrawal of Jan Christen, Pogacar's teammate at UAE Team Emirates - XRG, and Orluis Aular (Movistar Team).

The situation remained practically unchanged until after Ovada when Pogacar and his teammates began moving up positions, helping a generous Dilier to lead the peloton. At the start of the climb towards the Turchino Pass, the advantage of the leading men was measured at 3'00" over the peloton led in turns by Alpecin Premier Tech, Bahrain - Victorious and UAE Team Emirates.

After descending from the Turchino Pass, the group became more selective, the pace slightly decreased, and the fugitives gained ground again. The race exploded a few kilometers before the Cipressa when the world champion touched the wheel of the rider ahead of him, went down, and brought many other big names down with him, who got back up and fought it out for all to see. Much to our delight.

Read the full report of the Milan-Sanremo live coverage.

FINAL RESULTS

1) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG)

2) Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q.36.5)

3) Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike)

4) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)

5) Corbin Strong (NSN Cycling Team)

6) Andrea Vendrame (Team Jayco Alula)

7) Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek)

8) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-PremierTech)

9) Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team)

10) Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious)