Two-time Milan-San Remo champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) wasn't in the mix for a third victory on the Via Roma on Saturday afternoon, the Dutchman having been dropped on the Poggio en route to an eighth-place finish.
Four seconds up the road, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) outsprinted Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) for glory at the year's first Monument, the pair having left Van der Poel behind on the final climb of the 298km race.
It was a disappointing result for the Alpecin-Premier Tech leader, but an understandable one after he revealed that he was also caught up in the crash which took out Pogačar as well as Wout van Aert, Biniam Girmay, and several others with 32km to run, just before the Cipressa climb.
Brandishing painful-looking cuts to fingers on his left hand, Van der Poel explained later that the pain left him unable to hold his handlebars properly during the vital late stages of La Classicissima.
"During that big crash, another rider came from the left, and that's how I hurt my hand quite badly. I think the damage isn't too bad, but it really does hurt," Van der Poel told Het Nieuwsblad in San Remo.
He explained to Het Laatste Nieuws that a Lidl-Trek rider had collided with him during the carnage in Imperia, but noted that he could already feel he "wasn't great anymore" on the way up the Cipressa.
Nevertheless, he and Pidcock were the only riders who could live with Pogačar's acceleration up the penultimate climb of the race.
But it was on the Poggio where the after-effects of the crash told. Pogačar attacked once again 700 metres into the 3.7km climb, and Van der Poel had no answer.
"I was with them when I needed to be, but I didn't feel great. I said on the radio, 'I can't hold my handlebars properly anymore.' I tried," he told NOS, before explaining to Het Nieuwsblad that he rode his own pace up the climb.
"My team brought me back strongly after that crash, but I felt I wasn't at my best anymore. On the Poggio, I rode at my own pace, like Ganna last year. Unfortunately, Tadej and Tom didn't look at each other," he said.
With a shot at a third Milan-San Remo title now on hold again until 2027, Van der Poel's attention will turn back to the cobbled Classics following his season-starting victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
A quartet of titles at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are in his sights later this spring, though he'll hope his fingers will heal in time for his next appointment, Friday's E3 Saxo Classic.
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