What are we talking about when we talk about cycling?
Once, when the reopening of the season also corresponded chronologically to the Milan-Sanremo, there would have been no doubts. One would have said that, finally, after the long winter, with the spring classic one would have started running again. That we left again going towards the sea and the flowers of the Riviera. That Sanremo is the most beautiful and elusive race there is and that everyone abroad envies it. That with predictions you always risk making mistakes and that the charm of this test lies precisely in the fact that it seems very easy and that instead, precisely because of its apparent simplicity (the brawl is unleashed on the Poggio after almost 300 km of interminable collective procession), winning it becomes even more difficult. Regardless of some legendary names such as Eddy Merckx (7 victories) or Costante Girardengo (6) which, being, in fact, legendary names from another geological era, no longer apply. Like that extraordinary victory of Fausto Coppi in 1946 when he arrived in Sanremo with more than 14 minutes of advantage. With the radio commentator, Nicolò Carosio, who slyly says: “While waiting for the other competitors we broadcast dance music …”.
All eyes on Pogacar
All beautiful stories, which make legend and sumptuous tapestry. Almost ancient stuff, though. Like the magnificent enterprises of Dancelli (1970), of Gimondi (1974), of Saronni (1983), of Moser (1984), of Bugno and Chiappucci in ’90 and ’91. Perle da cineteca enter the gallery of memories; as well as Erik Zabel’s poker at the turn of the millennia and Nibali’s coup in 2018. Only now, in the era of globalized cycling, with runners who already have thousands of kilometers in their legs, there is only one argument that imposes itself. And that demands our absolute attention. And it is this: what will Tadej Pogacar do? What does this overflowing 23-year-old phenomenon have in mind that wins hands down wherever it goes? Will he also take Sanremo away after having already brushed everything they put on his plate in 2022?
Young phenomenon
Eh, yes: here we are facing a phenomenon. Which is rightly compared to the most Invincible of the Invincibles. That is to that Eddy Merckx who for his greed (523 career victories) was rightly nicknamed the Cannibal. Except that our Tadej, a Slovenian from Ljubljana, has already managed to overcome even that monster of the Belgian. Merckx won the first Tour de France at the age of 24. Pogar instead, at 23, he has already won two, not to mention that he has already imposed himself in two classic monuments such as the Giro di Lombardia and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Extraordinary feats, in an increasingly competitive cycling, which already put him in the gallery of the big names. The problem (for the opponents) is that Pogacar is not only very young but also runs with a lightness of mind that makes everything easy for him that is difficult for others. «When you see him pedal – say some veterans of the group – the others seem just amateurs».
There is also another thing that strikes you about this boy who is always smiling even after the fatigue of a fakir: that Tadej runs just for the pleasure of running. Without the anxiety and obsession with proving how good he is. And if by a very rare case he loses, he does not make a drama of it as it happened to Eddy Merckx, for whom a second place was a disgrace to be washed with blood. This psychological strength paradoxically makes it even more successful. While others (Roglic for example) wear out from a bad ride, Pogacar instead recharges like an electric battery. Besides, it’s everyone’s trouble. Someone criticizes him by saying that he should calibrate his forces. That you can’t always go full throttle. Also in this case Tadej smiles as you do with someone who talks just to talk. «Let’s see from time to time», he replies with the serenity of the just.
Favorite number one
This is why on the eve of the 113th Milan-Sanremo, which this Saturday 19 March has a historic departure from Vigorelli, it is inevitable to place Pogacar at the top of the favorites board. The only one on paper that can worry him, after Julien Alaphilippe’s forfeit, is another champion: the Belgian Wout Van Aert, also in pole position. Van Aert, 27, already first in the August 2020 edition and third in 2021, is the most feared by Pogacar himself because, if he is not detached on the Poggio, in the sprint after 300 kilometers he has very few rivals. The Belgian also comes from Paris-Nice where, despite not having hit the sprints, he has always been on the front line with his teammate Roglic, the final leader of the French race. Here, the real obstacle to the umpteenth triumph of Pogacar is precisely the Jumbo-Visma squadron which, in addition to the axes Van Aert and Roglic, can count on a tested collective organization.