Italy isn’t just great for pasta and coffee. Despite a packed early-season calendar, Tirreno-Adriatico still offers the best path to peak form for Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics.
The weather is generally better than Paris-Nice, which was struck by disastrous conditions again this year, conditions that Classics riders consider too great a risk. The racing at Tirreno-Adriatico is typically less intense, allowing the one-day specialists a gentler on-ramp to peak form. So when it comes to searching for hints about how Milan-San Remo might go, Tirreno is the place to look.
This year, three of the four main Milan-San Remo favourites chose to compete in Italy last week in search of what Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) succinctly described as "race hardness".
While every other four or five-star contender for La Classicissima was in Italy for the seven stages of Tirreno-Adriatico, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) stayed at home to follow his unique Spring Classics plan that stretches across the next six weekends, culminating in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
His number one rival, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), chose Tirreno for a week of hard racing, and it appeared to polish his form to perfection. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) also honed his form and race tactics, careful to win the time trial but did not chase the GC after last year's fight for second place forced him to go too deep.
There were serious doubts about Van Aert's form due to the injuries he sustained during the cyclocross season. He suffered every day during Tirreno-Adriatico, with his desire to win leading to tactical errors, but on Sunday night, he headed home to Belgium for a few days of rest, knowing his form was on the rise.
Unlike previous years, this season Van Aert ripped up the Visma-Lease a Bike training manual and insisted on riding Tirreno-Adriatico this year rather than a block of March altitude training, and seemed pleased with the results.
"You can’t simulate this work in training," he said after a week of suffering ended with a smile and good legs.
"Even with a good training schedule, you always choose a certain comfort zone. Here, the pace is set by someone else; you have to ride in a peloton and respond to attacks. You need that race feeling. It’s a cliché, but you can’t replicate that."
Mathieu van der Poel turns his form up to 11
Flemish newspaper Nieuwsblad gave Mathieu van der Poel 11 out of 10 for his performance in Tirreno-Adriatico. It is a hyperbolic vote, but it indicates that the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider's form is superb and that his projected performances in the upcoming Monuments, starting with Milan-San Remo, are strong.
The Dutchman was outstanding at Tirreno-Adriatico, putting the fear of God into his rivals, and perhaps even Tadej Pogačar, who was surely watching from home, with his two victories.
"We saw what form Mathieu is in. With a scenario like last year [in Milan-San Remo], it is really difficult for 99% of the peloton to aim for the top prize," Dries De Bondt (Jayco-AlUla) told Sporza.
I witnessed how relaxed Van der Poel was at stage starts and noted how he found ways to have fun and work on his fitness on every stage in Italy.
He won in San Gimignano after an attack on the final gravel sector and a climb to the finish. In Martinsicuro, he made sure he was part of the selection over the late climbs and then dominated the sprint. It seemed like a perfect dress rehearsal for the Milan-San Remo sprint.
On stage 5, Van der Poel struggled to stay in the GC group on the climbs for a while, then on stage 7, he dragged the peloton over an early climb at speed to drop the sprinters. Every stage seemed part of a training plan that pushed his fitness without overexerting him.
Van der Poel headed home to the Netherlands from Italy, knowing Tirreno had given him everything he had hoped for. Now he just needs to stay healthy for Saturday's first showdown with Pogačar.
No time for Del Toro to switch off as UAE Team Emirates face Milan-San Remo selection dilemma
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad celebrated Isaac del Toro's overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico but it will be interesting to see what impact their hard work has on their final roster for Milan-San Remo and the Mexican's ability to help Pogačar.
Del Toro went deep to take one of the biggest achievements of his career but now faces a major supporting role on Saturday. He can't yet fully stop, savour his success and relax.
Del Toro promised total dedication to Pogačar, but this will only be his third time racing Milan-San Remo. The Mexican will have to step up and replace the injured Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez, and lead out Pogačar's expected attack on the Cipressa. Del Toro probably has the physical ability to play that role, but it remains to be seen if he can handle the pressure and fight for position.
The final UAE Team Emirates lineup for Milan-San Remo remains unconfirmed due to injuries and fatigue, leaving sports manager Matxin Joxean Fernandez and his directors with the tough task of building a team to support Pogačar's high ambitions.
Florian Vermeersch is expected to play a key role alongside Del Toro. Benoît Cosnefroy could also be good for an early surge on the Cipressa. However, the team are missing several other strong support options: Brandon McNulty crashed out of Paris-Nice, Jan Christen is fatigued after racing full gas since the AlUla Tour, and Kevin Vermaerke also crashed hard during Tirreno-Adriatico.
Domen Novak could play an early role and has Pogačar's trust. Marc Soler may be called up for an extra shift before the Volta a Catalunya. Whatever the final selection, the seven-rider UAE roster for Milan-San Remo no longer has a powerful tail, and Pogačar might have to take that into account.
Watch out for Jorgenson and Pellizzari
The 2025 Milan-San Remo was a three-rider battle between Pogačar, Van der Poel and Ganna, the trio going away on the Cipressa due to Pogačar's aggression and then sprinting up the Via Roma together. I'm expecting a different, more open race on Saturday, especially with a risk of rain and a tailwind along the coast.
Wout van Aert seems to have the form and talents to join them on the Cipressa this year, and others could also have a chance based on their recent performances at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. Matteo Jorgenson and Christophe Laporte will back Van Aert, and the American could be especially useful on the Cipressa, where a sustained power effort is vital.
After this week, Jorgenson will head to altitude to prepare for the Ardennes rather than join his teammates on the cobbles, but Milan-San Remo could see the Visma bees back at their best. If the big names cancel each other out, Laporte could come back from the chase group to win a bigger group sprint in San Remo.
Third overall in Tirreno, Giulio Pellizzari will lead Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at the Giro d'Italia but has the physique and love for racing needed for Milan-San Remo. He was slowed by an Achilles tendon problem at Tirreno-Adriatico but like every Italian, he grew dreaming of riding La Classicissima.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe line-up includes Laurence Pithie, Tim van Dijke and Danny van Poppel, but Pellizzari could be a dark horse if the race explodes on the Cipressa.
The Paris-Nice outsiders
All roads lead to San Remo in late March, but few riders now use Paris-Nice to peak for the first Monument of the season, most contenders opting for Italy instead.
The last time the winner of Milan-San Remo came from Paris-Nice was in 2021, when Jasper Stuyven emerged to win a 17-rider sprint, after the race came back together after attacks on the Poggio. Matej Mohorič rode neither stage race before he won in 2022, but his famous dropper seatpost played as much of a part as his preparation.
Most riders opt for Tirreno-Adriatico before Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics because of the better weather, al dente pasta, fast racing, and the automatic adaptation to Italian road layouts. There is no time to still be learning about Italian traffic furniture when you're tearing down the Ligurian coastline at 50kph on race day.
RCS Sport helps the San Remo contenders by including several hilly stages over 200km in Tirreno, which prepares riders for the 298km on Saturday. Additionally, this year, the race avoided any mountain top finishes to avoid racing above the snow line in the central Italian Apennines.
Biniam Girmay (NSN) and Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost) were the only real Milan-San Remo outsiders in action in Paris-Nice. Notably, both riders wisely chose not to finish stage 8.
Earlier this year, Tom Pidcock and Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) chose a less-travelled path, going to Chile to train at altitude. Following Pogačar's recent plan, they skipped both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. It will be interesting to see how they perform, having not raced in a stage event in the weeks leading up to their next competition.
Modern cycling has ripped up many of pro cycling's traditions, and the big-name riders no longer stay in Italy after Tirreno-Adriatico, after the race’s finish moved to a Sunday.
There are no longer trips along the autostrada to San Remo for a final recon and a series of Italian coffee rides. Only a few major teams and domestiques will ride Wednesday's Milano-Torino, which has become a victim of its own race cannibalisation.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and other sprinters will ride Nokere Koerse in Belgium on Wednesday as a final tune-up before flying to Italy on Thursday or Friday. Racing this week can be risky, however. Last year, Philipsen crashed in Nokere Koerse, which derailed his hopes in San Remo. He is staying the course and looking for a morale-boosting first win of 2026.
Meanwhile, teammate Mathieu van der Poel has chosen the quiet, safe canal paths at home to avoid risks. He did the necessary work during Tirreno-Adriatico and can now simply count down the days to the first Monument of 2026 and, potentially, another victory on Via Roma.
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