Tadej Pogacar wins epic duel with Tom Pidcock to finally land elusive Milan-Sanremo victory

He’s finally done it.

Hunched over his handlebars, Tadej Pogacar celebrates a Milan-Sanremo win that he had said was more important to him than adding a further two yellow jerseys to take the all-time Tour de France record.

It didn’t come easy. The Slovenian had to recover from a crash 32 kilometres (20 miles) from the end of Saturday’s race to record his first win in the epic, 300km-long race. It means Pogacar has now won four of the sport’s five Monuments, and will now head to Paris-Roubaix next month hoping to become just the fourth rider in the sport’s history to complete the set.

Briton Tom Pidcock was the only rider able to stay with Pogacar on the ascent of the Poggio — the race’s final, iconic climb — and after the pair descended the other side together, it came down to a sprint on the Via Roma, with Pogacar holding on to win by half a wheel.

Earlier in the afternoon, the women’s race was won by Lotte Kopecky in a four-up sprint, but there was a worrying crash on the descent of the race’s penultimate climb, the Cipressa. Like Pogacar, Kopecky adds a coveted Milan-Sanremo victory to a palmares that includes three Tour of Flanders wins, two Strade Bianche titles and her 2024 win at Paris-Roubaix.

The Athletic’s writers break down the action from a historic day in northern Italy.

How Pogacar’s crash blew the race wide open

Tadej Pogacar has a history of crashing and recovering — including at last year’s Strade Bianche and before the Hautacam stage at the last edition of the Tour de France — but the scale of his fall on Saturday, coming with just 32km of Milan-Sanremo remaining, appeared to have knocked him out of contention.

Pogacar was the first rider down after being knocked off-balance by Soren Kragh Andersen, with Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Giulio Pellizzari, and Biniam Girmay all going down in the same crash. Mathieu Van der Poel did not fall off, but injured his hand in the same incident, and also had to fight his way back to the peloton before the Cipressa.

🌈 Tadej Pogacar goes down as we approach la Cipressa, and some big names are involved too –

Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Biniam Girmay, Giulio Pellizzari ; that’s a lot of favourites potentially out of contention

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— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 21, 2026

UAE Team Emirates’ day had already been made more difficult by an early crash from Jan Christen, who was expected to form part of Pogacar’s leadout alongside Isaac del Toro.

However, teammates Florian Vermeersch and Felix Grossschartner pulled brilliant turns to pace Pogacar back to the still-accelerating peloton by the lower slopes of the Cipressa, the race’s penultimate climb.

“When I crashed, I thought it was over because I was crashing just before the most important part of the race,” Pogacar said in his post-race interview.

“It was not ideal, but luckily not too much damage to me or the bike, just a little bit. Florian and Felix gave everything to bring me back to the front. If there was no team, I would not go right to Cipressa but straight to the finish line.”

Jacob Whitehead

How did injured-Pogacar tame the Cipressa?

Pogacar was still 10 seconds off the front of the race when the peloton hit the Cipressa, but made his way back to the leaders by the time the slopes of the 5.6km ascent really kicked in. Wasting no time, his American teammate Brandon McNulty immediately attacked, handing over to Del Toro after a short turn.

The Slovenian’s eventual flight came with such acceleration that only van der Poel, last year’s winner, and Q36.5’s Pidcock stayed with him. The rest of the bunch were obliterated, with the leading trio quickly opening up a 30-second gap by the summit.

Van der Poel and Pidcock broke last year’s climbing record by two seconds, setting times of eight minutes and 57 seconds — but Pogacar, starting at a disadvantage, moved that time into a new realm, completing the ascent nine seconds faster than both.

POGI-NATION, RISE UP 🫡

The ego of the World Champ, down a few kilometers ago, and he goes thermonuclear in La Cipressa! Only Tom Pidcock, and his best frenemy, Mathieu van der Poel, can follow!

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This final trio was the race organisers’ dream — the greatest classics rider of his generation in Van der Poel, the ultra-aggression of multi-discipline star, Pidcock, looking to win his first Monument, and arguably the best rider of all time, Pogacar, gunning for history.

Pogacar, Pidcock and Van Der Poel begin their descent of the Cipressa (Marco BERTORELLO / AFP via Getty Images)

All three would have been confident they could win the race in a different way, as well: Pogacar by attacking on the Poggio, Pidcock by speeding down the descents, and Van der Poel if it came down to the sprint. And so, the scene set by the Cipressa, the protagonists raced towards their denouement on the Poggio.

Jacob Whitehead

Pidcock and Pogacar round out epic duel with photo-finish sprint

After losing out to Van der Poel in a sprint last year, Pogacar was desperate to shed his Dutch shadow. His move at the base of the Poggio was decisive, achieving what he could not manage 12 months ago — Van der Poel was dropped within the first 500m of the climb.

But Pogacar’s problem now was Pidcock, who was producing arguably the most impressive performance of his career. The Briton never looked close to being dropped by Pogacar, dancing on his wheel and demonstrating elite acceleration to match the world champion’s bursts.

Pidcock, a former winner at Strade Bianche, was searching for his first Monument victory, and these were his ideal circumstances. The 26-year-old is considered the best descender in the peloton, and likely would have backed his sprint against Pogacar. With a three-kilometre drop onto the Via Roma, the peloton seemingly too far behind to catch them, Pidcock might even have been considered the favorite.

Pidcock and Pogacar descend the Poggio, with the evidence of the world champion’s crash clearly evident (Fabio Ferrari – Pool/Getty Images)

But this is why Pogacar is on a tier of history that only Eddy Merckx can claim to match. Even with the hoops of his rainbow jersey virtually unrecognisable on his left-hand side, his shorts slashed open by the crash, Pogacar pushed the descent so hard that even Pidcock was put under pressure.

Van Aert made a forlorn attempt to bridge the gap from the bunch but had no realistic chance of catching them — this was a two-up sprint between equally matched opponents. Pidcock entrenched himself on Pogacar’s wheel, forcing the world champion to open up his sprint as late as possible.

Having slightly boxed himself on the left-hand side of the road, the Briton came back hard but lacked the final burst to round Pogacar, with the Slovenian winning by half a wheel before coiling himself around his bike and screaming in celebration.

“It was a bit hectic, not ideal like last year, but when we hit the Poggio, it was better wind this year,” he said, visibly emotional, at the end of the race. “I tried to give it everything but Tom Pidcock was really, really strong. We came together and I was lucky in the sprint. He has a better kick than me. It was really close, and so chapeau to him.”

Pogacar wins by half a wheel from Pidcock on the iconic Via Roma finish. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)

Alongside Paris-Roubaix, this was the only major one-day race Pogacar had yet to win — and arguably always looked the hardest for him to achieve.

The depth and breadth of Pogacar’s achievements sometimes make it difficult to contextualise his strokes of genius, but the facts are bare: at 27 years old, he has won virtually every race that matters in the sport, most of them twice, with a level of aggression and panache that could sate the careers of many great riders.

Jacob Whitehead

Speechless. Absolutely speechless. What a fucking finish.

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— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 21, 2026

SD Worx produce perfect tactics as Lotte Kopecky sprints to win

Lorena Wiebes had been the overwhelming favourite to win her second consecutive Milan-Sanremo title, but as so often happens in cycling’s most unpredictable Monument, those expectations were shredded on the Poggio.

Instead, it was the other prong of SD Worx’s dual threat — former world champion Kopecky — who won a four-strong sprint on the Via Roma, having escaped on the Poggio in a move that the peloton never looked like bringing back.

The moment that shaped the race had come on the descent, when Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, part of a strong front seven, slid out on a fast right-hander, also bringing down Kim Le Court-Pienaar and British champion Millie Couzens. Unsighted by the bend, numerous riders went into the fallers at high speed, with Laboral-Fundacion-Euskadi’s Debora Silvestri launched over the edge of the road.

Niewadoma-Phinney hit her head hard, and was subsequently looked after by Le Court-Pienaar, while Silvestri’s team stated she was conscious and on her way to the hospital.

One of that seven-rider group had looked a strong bet to win the race, but with the race coming back together in the wake of the crash, all the remaining favourites entered the Poggio in the peloton. Puck Pieterse launched the key attack halfway up the climb, followed by Kopecky, Noemi Ruegg, Eleonora Gasparrini, and Dominika Wlodarczyk.

SD Worx were now in a strong position — they had the fastest sprinter in the front group, in Kopecky, and in the peloton, in Wiebes. Able to rely on other teams to rein in the break, Kopecky’s group entered the flamme rouge with a lead of some 10 seconds, which the chase never seemed organised enough to close. Pieterse opened up the sprint, with Kopecky launching from second wheel to scorch to victory, withstanding late pressure from Ruegg.

⚡ The effort of all efforts, and Lotte Kopecky takes her first Primavera!

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— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 21, 2026

It is yet another addition to Kopecky’s palmares, arguably marking her as the best Classics rider of her generation.

Kopecky celebrates her victory on Saturday. (David Pintens / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)

“Just amazing,” Kopecky said. “The whole race just fell into place. Our team took the responsibility when we had to. The girls, everyone today, did a great job bringing us to the right place towards the climbs. Then, on the top, I was really happy that I could finally answer an attack on the climb. Going on the descent with the five of us.

“I really had to be patient and also know that Lorena is still behind. I started my sprint at the perfect moment. I’m super happy that I can finish it off.”

Jacob Whitehead

What next for Pogacar?

After landing one of the two missing Monuments on his palmares, Pogacar — assuming the injury he picked up in today’s crash does not impact his plans — will surely focus on trying to win Paris-Roubaix in three weeks. He made his debut in the race last year and matched master-of-the-cobbles Van der Poel for much of the day, until he misjudged a corner late on in the race, crashed and trailed into the Roubaix velodrome in an (extremely creditable) second place.

But today’s performance at Sanremo shows that Pogacar can deal with adversity and that he learns from every edition of every race he takes part in. Before Roubaix, Pogacar is due to defend his title at the Tour of Flanders on April 5, with his win today taking him up to 11 Monument wins.

That draws him level with Belgian Roger de Vlaeminck in the all-time list. Both men are eight behind Merckx, who won 19.

Should Pogacar win in Roubaix, be that this year or in the future, he will join De Vlaeminck, Merckx and another Belgian, Rik Van Looy, as the only men to win all five of the sport’s most prestigious one-day races (Milan-Sanremo, The Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia). Those names are the sport’s eternal royalty — and Pogacar is proving himself a more than worthy addition to the top table.

🌈 Sanremo sees Rainbow for the first time since Giuseppe Saronni, in 1983. #MilanoSanremo @CA_Ita pic.twitter.com/coFJKytwcX

— Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 21, 2026

Duncan Alexander

Race results

Men’s race

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) — 6h 35’ 49”
2. Thomas Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) — ” 
3. Wout Van Aert (Team Visma-Lease A Bike) — 0’ 4”
4. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) — ”
5. Corbin Strong (NSN Cycling Team) —  ”

Women’s race

1. Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) — 3h 47’ 17”
2. Noemi Ruegg (EF Education-Oatly) — ”
3. Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) — ”
4. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) — ”
5. Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) — 0′ 4”