Mathieu van der Poel satisfied with Milan-San Remo debut despite 13th place

SANREMO ITALY AUGUST 08 Mathieu Van Der Poel of The Netherlands and Team AlpecinFenix Canyon Bike during the 111st Milano Sanremo 2020 a 305km race from Milano to Sanremo MilanoSanremo MilanoSanremo on August 08 2020 in Sanremo Italy Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) at Milan-San Remo (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

As Wout van Aert took his first Monument victory at Milan-San Remo on Saturday, it was a different story for his cyclo-cross rival Mathieu van der Poel. The Alpecin-Fenix team leader finished in 13th place on Via Roma, not making a move on the Poggio before he was blocked in at the finish.

After Van der Poel's showings last spring, including a phenomenal win at Amstel Gold Race, expectations were high as he made his Milan-San Remo bow at the weekend. But despite the seemingly disappointing end result, the 25-year-old was pleased with how his race went.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.