Mauro Gianetti, Team Principal of UAE Emirates, is visibly emotional when he steps in front of the journalists' microphones to comment on Tadej Pogacar's latest great achievement. "It's really difficult to find the words to describe what I'm feeling, what the whole team is feeling. We've been waiting for this moment for a whole year and now we've reached our objective. Congratulations to the entire team and to Tadej."

And further: "It was an almost dramatic race. Jan Christen's crash deprived us of an important player, then there was Tadej's crash, fortunately not too severe. But despite that, the team remained focused and motivated.  Domen Novak, Felix Großschartner and an outstanding Brandon McNulty waited for Pogacar and brought him to the front. Then Tadej did what he had to do. With very visible wounds left by the crash, he managed to win an incredible Milan-San Remo".

Now it's time to celebrate the 110th victory in the career of the 27-year-old Slovenian, the 17th strung together this season by the Emirati team: "We wanted to put this victory on the shelf, now I'll go to Tadej and hug him but not too hard for fear of hurting him. Between us, few words are needed, we understand each other with just a look" said the Swiss manager again.

And then, in closing: "Tadej deserves the love of everyone for what he does for cycling"