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Milan-San Remo: Van Aert favorite, Alaphilippe and Van der Poel in ambush

2021-03-17T17:37:46.020Z


Impressive since the start of the season, building on what he had shown in 2020, Wout Van Aert will appear at Milan-San Remo on Saturday with the favorite sign. Holding the title, the Belgian has all the cards in hand to succeed, even if there will be some spoilers.


If it was Tadej Pogacar who won Tirreno-Adriatico a few days ago, it was Wout Van Aert who made the best impression.

While the gratin of world cycling (Pogacar, Alaphilippe, Van Aert, Van der Poel) had met in Italy, the vice-world champion was particularly distinguished.

The Jumbo-Visma rider won the first stage, with a massive sprint in front of specialists in the genre like Caleb Ewan or Fernando Gaviria, and the last, the final stopwatch, in front of the European champion and the world champion of discipline.

Just that…

But where he surprised his world the most was in the high mountains, during the fourth stage of the Italian event.

If the states of form of each other can skew the performance of the Belgian a little, he still let go of Egan Bernal, winner of the Tour de France 2019. The Colombian had yet overtaken him a few days earlier on the Strade Bianche, proof that the Ineos runner was not completely out of form.

Geraint Thomas, Romain Bardet or Vincenzo Nibali also finished behind Van Aert, who failed just 45 seconds behind Pogacar, the winner of the day.

Remember that the winner of the Cyclo-cross World Cup is ten centimeters taller and weighs nearly twenty kilograms heavier than Bernal.

A large carcass of roller that it manages to hoist very quickly to the tops of the passes.

Alaphilippe, Van der Poel, Pedersen to outsmart Van Aert

With such form and versatility: an excellent rider, an excellent sprinter, a very good puncher and a good climber, the Belgian seems unbeatable for the first Monument of the year, Milan-San Remo this Saturday.

Last year, he won the first “Primavera” of his career, ahead of Julian Alaphalippe.

The Frenchman could still play spoilers this year in Italy.

The Belgian's ease in short, dry coasts, where Alaphilippe still has a certain advantage as he showed at the Strade Bianche, could however push the world champion to attack from afar.

We do not see how Van Aert could be definitively left behind in the Poggio, the last difficulty of this monument.

This climb, which generally eliminates pure sprinters, is not demanding enough for Alaphilippe and other punchers to take a ten-second lead at the top, synonymous with an almost assured victory further down the Via Roma.

Slightly longer, the Frenchman could take the blow in the Cipressa, about thirty kilometers from the finish.

It would be a real bet given that at this stage of the race, the teams are not thin, and the Belgian will probably have a plethora of teammates to take him back.

It is perhaps his best enemy in cyclo-cross, Mathieu Van der Poel, who could hamper Van Aert the most.

Much better puncher than the Belgian, the Dutchman seems to be a little worse in the sprints.

A bit because it was Van der Poel who deprived Van Aert of victory on the last Tour of Flanders, by beating the rider of the Jumbo-Visma in the sprint.

If the strategy of Alaphilippe is very predictable since he will necessarily attack in the Poggio, the tactics of Van der Poel are more foggy to read for Van Aert.

The cyclo-cross world champion can just as easily initiate a sharp attack in the Cipressa or the Poggio, or wait for a massive sprint or in a small group.

This second option still seems less privileged as Van Aert seems to be a formidable finisher lately.

Finally, Mads Pedersen, 2019 world champion has a very good burst of speed and passes the bumps well.

The Dane could also annoy the Belgian.

Like Peter Sagan a few years ago, Wout Van Aert will therefore be the most marked rider of this 112th edition of Milan-San Remo.

Unlike the Slovak who has never won the "Primavera", the Belgian can count on a solid team which should prevent him from being lonely and having a tempo to impose on his own.

Ultimately, Van Aert's great enemy will surely be the robustness of his bicycle.

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Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-17

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