{"id":837567,"date":"2026-03-20T03:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T03:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837567\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T03:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T03:35:17","slug":"nine-times-out-of-ten-its-a-lost-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837567\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine times out of ten it\u2019s a lost day"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nHence, even though the climb is not brutal, Cipressa has become the central point of everyone’s discussion<\/a>. The penultimate climb of the day features 3 kilometers at 5%, late in the day, and that is enough for attacks that create damage. It is expected that UAE will go all-out once again and try to destroy the race there. Mathieu van der Poel’s task is to follow the World Champion, like last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in good shape in Tirreno-Adriatico, but following those guys on climbs like the Poggio or Cipressa is another story,” Philipsen admits. His chances lay in everything coming back to a sprint.<\/p>\n

“I think they just have to let their legs do the talking. Mathieu has a very good chance to win again,” he believes, before stating his own intentions. \u201cI\u2019ll try to ride from the second line. After the climbs, it\u2019s about seeing which group I\u2019m in and what we\u2019re still racing for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milano-Sanremo usually a ‘lost day’<\/p>\n

Even though the Belgian’s form is on the rise and perhaps peaking just in time, as shown by his recent Nokere Koerse win, it will be out of his control if the climbers set off on the Cipressa and don’t slow down afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always a chance. Nine times out of ten it\u2019s a lost day, but you still take the kilometers and experience. For every small chance that exists, you have to go there. Milano-Sanremo is too important to skip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alpecin is a team that, in the spring, almost exclusively focuses on the classics. Hence, even if the chances are not good for Philipsen, it is not a race that he has the luxury to skip. \u201cI\u2019ve experienced a scenario where I could win, so it\u2019s definitely possible again if I can get over the climbs well. Otherwise, there\u2019s no point going. The chance is small, and everything has to fall into place. We have different options, and that\u2019s the strength of our team. Mathieu can do his thing on the climbs. I take a more defensive role.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the list of favourites, despite being the most open of monuments, there aren’t any expected surprises. \u201cIf two riders can go away, it\u2019s them,” Philipsen says, naming the ‘big two’ who are expected to win all monuments once again this year.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think many others can do that. Maybe someone like Filippo Ganna on a very good day, like last year. I saw in Tirreno-Adriatico that Wout van Aert looked strong. I think he\u2019ll be close.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hence, even though the climb is not brutal, Cipressa has become the central point of everyone’s discussion.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[223291,4230,88916,10102,181899,79,16152,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-837567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-alpecin-premier-tech","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-jasper-philipsen","11":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","12":"tag-milano-sanremo","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tadej-pogacar","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116259410669934333","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}