After finally winning Milan-San Remo, Tadej Pogačar said he might not target the race again, citing the dangers of training on the busy Italian coast road as a major concern.
Pogačar finally won on the Via Roma on Saturday in his sixth attempt after finishing fifth, fourth, and third, twice. To take his emphatic victory, he had to survive a late crash and then launch a furious chase to get back on in order to execute his plan of attacking on the Cipressa.
After escaping with Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel on that climb, he distanced the Dutchman on the Poggio and beat Pidcock in the sprint. With his longtime goal achieved, he joked to Cyclingnews that he will only return to San Remo to eat focaccia, while Pidcock revealed that Pogačar told him he wouldn't be back.
"I think it's definitely one of the biggest wins in my career," Pogačar confirmed. However, there was a real sense he might never focus so intently on Milan-San Remo again, because it involves training frequently on the Italian coastal road.
In the post-race press conference, Pogačar revealed his fear of Italian traffic, and in an Instagram post after his victory, he specifically promised his partner and fellow professional rider Urška Žigart, "I will stay away from those roads for a while."
Given the nature of the Ligurian coastline, the main Aurelia road is the only practical way for Pogačar and other riders to reach the Cipressa and Poggio climbs from their home in Monte Carlo.
Although there is a bike path between San Remo and Imperia along the old railway line overlooking the Mediterranean, the Milan-San Remo race route follows the coast road, only heading into the hills for the Cipressa and Poggio.
"It's quite a relief to finally win it. It's been many years of training around here, and I will miss it," Pogačar said in the post-race press conference.
He continued, "Now I can stop going to San Remo every week or even two times a week to train. It's really hard mentally to go training to San Remo all winter."
Pogačar specifically spoke about the road safety risks involved in training along the Ligurian coast.
"A little bit, you risk your life on every training that you go here. No offence, but on Italian roads, sometimes the traffic is a little bit criminal," he said.
Italy has a relatively high rates of all road fatalities at 51 per million residents, according to the EU commission's European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO), compared with 40 in Belgium, 37 in Spain and 16 in Norway, it saw marginal decreases from 2017 to 2023.
However, there have been several high-profile deaths of professional cyclists in recent years, from Michele Scarponi (2017) to Davide Rebellin (2022), that have shaken the peloton.
Pogačar softened his criticism of Italian road conditions with hopes for the future, but his concerns about road safety remained evident.
"They're making nice bike paths, so maybe in a few years, it will be really nice coast rides," he added.
"But it costs a lot of effort, mentally also, for this race. It's one of the most unpredictable races I've ever done. I think it is one of the most unpredictable races in the world."
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