The potential sprint field for Milan-San Remo took a dent on Wednesday as Lidl-Trek confirmed that Jonathan Milan will miss Saturday's race due to illness.
Milan raced Tirreno-Adriatico last week, missing out on the 221km sprint stage but coming good on the final day to win stage 7. However, after returning home, illness disrupted his preparation for the next big race.
"Unfortunately, Jonathan Milan became unwell upon return home from Tirreno-Adriatico and was forced to take time off the bike to help with his recovery; consequently, the decision has been made for him to skip Milano Sanremo this Saturday," a short message from Lidl-Trek read.
He is the second big name missing from the line-up that Lidl-Trek may have hoped to field in Pavia, as Mads Pedersen is still on the mend from a horrible crash and is yet to make his Classics return. He is racing against time to regain strength and fitness for the cobbled Classics, but Milan-San Remo was all but ruled out earlier this week.
Formerly seen as something of a sprinter's Classic, Milan-San Remo has been won in reduced bunch gallops before by names like Mark Cavendish and Jasper Philipsen, but recent editions have been much more attacking and favouring aggressive riders and small groups.
That said, the race still regularly attracts a healthy field of sprinters, and Milan would have headlined that group and the list of favourites for a potential fast finish.
In his absence, the sprinters on the start list include former winner Philipsen, Visma-Lease a Bike rising star Matthew Brennan, Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon-CMA CGM), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), and Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The chances of a sprinter taking the spoils on Via Roma seem increasingly low, however, with all pre-race talk focusing on the much-hyped rivalry between defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who has long been searching for a way to win this race.
As for Lidl-Trek's hopes without Milan or Pedersen, they are yet to reveal their official line-up for Saturday. They may look to the emerging talent of Mathias Vacek, but the ceiling of his ambitions is probably the top 10, rather than a step on the podium.
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