Saturday's widely predicted duel between Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tadej Pogačar on the Cipressa and the Poggio in Milan-San Remo will require many stars to align for the Slovenian to beat his Classics arch-rival, say UAE Team Emirates-XRG management. But they remain convinced it could be more than possible.
Neither Pogačar nor UAE have ever won La Primavera, with Van der Poel the principle obstacle to the Slovenian's long-sought success in the most recent editions.
However, the squad don't see that elusive victory is such an impossible task and neither does Mathieu van der Poel himself, who recently said that all it would take was for him to lose 1% for Pogačar to overtake him in the race.
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Furthemore, as UAE pointed out, Pogačar has been Van der Poel's number 1 rival so many times in their career, that the Dutchman has both the confidence and the wherewithal to beat him.
"It's very complicated to win there, he's got the race sussed and he's got Tadej' number but we'll try to do it," lead sports manager Joxean Fernánez Matxin told Eurosport.
"We have to try and increase that 1% but either way it's important that Mathieu's such a respectful rival."
"Tadej is very motivated, he's won one race already this year at Strade Bianche and he's worked very hard," team general manager Mauro Gianetti told Cyclism'Actu.
"He's trained a lot on the roads of Milan-San Remo, even if he already knows them by heart – not just to study them again but because that way by actually riding the route, he gets more inspiration for Saturday.
"Tactically, it's actually quite complex, because he'll have to be capable of handling the situation and benefiting from opportunities.
"He needs a good team with him, too, but it's also complicated because getting onto the Cipressa on the front with various teammates is not easy."
"Everybody's got the same goal and the number of positions is limited. So that's the real key: the start of the Cipressa."
Injuries mean two of Pogačar's usual top San Remo teammates, Jonathan Narváez and Tim Wellens, will be absent on Saturday and that will do nothing to help UAE maintain such a high pace that is needed on the Cipressa, Gianetti recognised to Cyclism'Actu.
"Yes, of course, their qualities for this specific race – knowing where to position themselves without using up too much energy, then keeping enough strength back for a really high pace on the Cipressa – are going to be missing this year. But we've got young riders like Isaac Del Toro, Jan Christen and Brandon McNulty who have great qualities as racers. Maybe not as experienced, but with the same motivation. We're making do."
As Gianetti pointed out the start of the UAE season was affected by a number of bad falls, leaving various riders injured and out of action for lengthy spells. Amongst them were Tour Down Under winner Jay Vine, Vegard Stake Laengen – like Narváez and Vine a 'kangaroo crash' victim – and Mikkel Bjerg.
Even so their early season had gone well, with 16 wins this season to date.
At the centre of it all on Saturday though, will be Pogačar, who has reportedly said winning San Remo or Paris-Roubaix might be more important than winning the Tour this year. Gianetti disagreed with that idea, saying that he'd go with a fifth Tour, but that in either case, "the Tour is for later."
Meanwhile "I think that the public has the chance to see something very special, a rider capable of fighting for races like Strade, San Remo, Flanders, Roubaix, Liége and then the Tour. It's extraordinary, it's unique and we have to make the most of it," Gianetti said.
.The team themselves are also hungry for success on Saturday. As Gianetti pointed out, "the team have been waiting for a year for their revenge at Milan-San Remo, whether that's Tadej or us. It's a very interesting race, an extraordinary one, very difficult in its sheer simplicity. We're all really keen to see what happens this weekend between Milan and San Remo."
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