Bloodied and battered Pogacar fights back from a crash to finally conquer Milan-San Remo

Sat, March 21, 2026 at 4:46 PM UTC

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1 / 0Italy Milan-Sanremo CyclingSlovenia's Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates XRG celebrates after crossing the finish line ahead of Britain's Thomas Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team to win the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (298 km) from Pavia to Sanremo, Italy, March 21, 2026. (Massimi Paolone/LaPresse via AP) ()

SAN REMO, Italy (AP) — Bloodied, bruised and battered Tadej Pogacar finally won the Milan-San Remo race.

Pogacar recovered from a crash about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the finish to edge out Tom Pidcock on the line and win the race known as La Classicissima for the first time on Sarurday.

Milan-San Remo is one the longest one-day classics in Europe at almost 300 kilometers (186 miles), and the first of the season.

It was one of the few titles that still eluded Pogacar, one of cycling’s biggest stars, and he admitted several times to being desperate to change that.

Pogacar’s chances appeared to diminish when he was caught up in the crash that shredded the left side of his shorts and left him with scrapes and cuts on his leg.

Last year’s winner Mathieu van der Poel also went down but the duo managed to get back onto the back of the peloton at the start of the penultimate Cipressa climb.

Pogacar worked his way to the front, stuck with an initial attack and then attacked himself towards the top, with only Pidcock and van der Poel able to follow.

The trio had a gap of 25 seconds at the top although that was down to 11 seconds as they began the Poggio climb shortly before the finish.

Pogacar attacked halfway up and managed to drop van der Poel. He tried several times to shake Pidcock but couldn’t distance him and they were locked together as they crested the summit.

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Little could separate the duo on the descent. Pogacar opened up the sprint 200 meters from the line and beat Pidcock by half a wheel.

Wout Van Aert won a bunch sprint for third.

Five-way sprint in women's race

Lotte Kopecky edged Noemi Rüegg and Eleonora Gasparrini in a sprint of five to win the women’s race.

The race was marked by a horrific-looking crash on the descent of the Cipressa.

Several riders were caught up in the incident; Italian Debora Silvestri flew over a guardrail as she tried to avoid the pileup.

Silvestri’s team, Laboral Kutxa, said she was conscious as she was taken to hospital.

The women’s race followed a 156-kilometer (97-mile) route from Genoa to San Remo.

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