Milan-San Remo has remained a vital ambition of Tadej Pogačar's, likely ever since he realised he could, in theory, win it ahead of the Classics specialists and sprinters if everything were to go perfectly across the 300km of racing.
The nature of the route, which comes fully to life in the final 30km on the Cipressa (5.6km at 4.1%) and Poggio (3.7km at 3.1%) climbs, and really lacks elevation gain for much of the opening 240km outside of the Passo del Turchino, has always made it a challenge for the four-time Tour de France winner to make a difference.
