CyclistHow each team should try to win mens Milan-San RemoMilan-San Remo is here. One of cyclings most beautiful races dips south from Pavia and traverses the coast of the Ligurian Sea on the way to the Tre Capi, Cipressa and Poggio climax. Theres a lot of sightseeing to be done on the road to San Remo, and plans are hastily being made to try and stop two of the biggest names in cycling leaving everyone in their dust. But even Tadej Pogaar is still trying to figure out how to win this one. Fortunately for him, weve mapped out the best route to success at Milan-San Remo for all the top contenders. Related Posts Will Tadej Pogaar ever win Milan-San Remo? How to win Milan-San Remo Cycling Spring Classics 2026: Race dates, Monuments, cobbles and live TV guide Milan-San Remo 2026 preview: Routes, favourites, how to watch and start lists UAE Team Emirates XRGMarco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images)Goal: Make it even harder on the Cipressa for Van der Poel.Milan-San Remo is one notable omission from Tadej Pogaars palmars. Thats not for lack of trying, rather the parcours being too easy despite totalling almost 300km in the saddle. This is because he thrives on terrain others suffer on, dancing away on climbs and staging solo attacks that seem to get longer each time. It wont be long before hes off in the neutral zone. Essentially the climbs havent been quite long or steep enough for his explosive attacks to drop Mathieu van der Poel. The race is pretty much pan flat until the Tre Capi climbs, where UAE Team Emirates XRG will begin to ramp up the pace. After that its down to just two climbs where Pogaar needs to create a gap: the Cipressa and the Poggio. The Cipressa is 5.6km with an average of 4.1%, but the dream spot for any potential attack comes at the 9% gradient around 3km in. Attacks on the Cipressa are often thwarted by the flat stretch between it and the Poggio, but it was decisive last year Pogaar whittle the race down to just him and Van der Poel with Filippo Ganna yo-yoing off the back. Pogaars 2025 attack was launched after a powerful pace set by Tim Wellens and a massive leadout from Jhonatan Narvez. Neither are here this year through injury, however he has Florian Vermeersch, Jan Christen and Brandon McNulty to put the pressure on as well as prodigy Isaac del Toro, who could act as either a leadout or to draw out Van der Poel with his own attacks. They could also try to throw a rider up the road to throw the cat among the pigeons.Pogaar recently set a new KOM on the Cipressa in training, with a time of 8min 51sec. This is six seconds quicker than the time he set in the race last year. Van der Poel is easily his biggest competitor for a Milan-San Remo title having two already and looks in peak form too despite a shorter offseason, and the year he didnt he helped teammate Jasper Philipsen win. If Pogaar arrives at the line with Van der Poel again, its over, so he has to drop him on the climbs.Alpecin-Premier TechSara Cavallini/Getty ImagesGoal: Have Mathieu van der Poel follow Pogaar and keep Jasper Philipsen in contentionOver the past two decades, Milan-San Remo has culminated in a sprint finish 75% of the time. Its primarily flat parcours has made it the Sprinters Monument, but the participation of Pogaar has changed that. Alpecin-Premier Tech have two strong cards to play though. Either follow Pogaar with Van der Poel and beat him in a sprint or keep a bigger group together for a bunch sprint with Jasper Philipsen.Van der Poels victories sandwich Philipsens victory in 2024. That year, despite the efforts of Pogaar, 12 riders would be in contention at the finish including several sprinters. Although Pogaar still managed to finish on the podium, he was never going to beat Philipsen in a sprint.Philipsens speed places him in the top rung of sprinters and can climb better than pretty much every other pure sprinter. Its hard and chaotic for the right plan to come together, which is why Van der Poel will be the first card to play as the peloton braces for a UAE Team Emirates XRG offensive. But if the likelihood of a sprint finish remains high and Philipsen can stay in the hunt, Van der Poel will pivot to domestique mode and Philipsen will be the favourite to take the victory.Ineos Grenadiers Dirk Waem/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty ImagesGoal: Clear the road for Filippo Ganna in time-trial modeSince Micha Kwiatkowskis podium in 2019, the only Ineos Grenadiers rider to place in the top ten of Milan-San Remo has been Filippo Ganna. Twice has the Italian seen the second step of the podium, both defeats at the hands of Van der Poel. In 2023, he was best of the rest in a small trio behind the winners solo victory, and in 2025, he time-trialled his way back into contention after being distanced on the Cipressa, but didnt have enough left to match the Dutchmans sprint.His massive time-trialling engine is likely the only way Ineos can win this one and theyre going to have to do things differently to get the better of Alpecin and UAE. Ganna going clear against Van der Poel and Pogaar is a long shot, so Ineos Grenadiers need to hit them beforehand by attacking. Attack, attack and attack some more. This will deplete Gannas teammates in the process, and potentially only impact the other squads domestiques and not the main men, but its better than waiting for the inevitable Pogaar move and hoping that Ganna can somehow come around Van der Poel. If Ganna can move first and Pogaar and Van der Poel look to each other to do the work, then its possible his world-beating TT ability can hold them off.While he has a fierce sprint, if he wants to win this race, hell do it by doing what he does best. Ineos Grenadiers also bring former winner Kwiatkowski, who won in that extremely close three-man sprint in 2017, puncheur Axel Laurance, young talent Josh Tarling and Classics rider turned sprinter Ben Turner.Lidl-TrekA.S.O/Billy CeustersGoal: Keep it togetherWelcome back, Mads Pedersen. The Danes season came to an abrupt halt as he broke his wrist and collarbone on his first race day of the year, but he is officially back for Milan-San Remo. Out of the three Monuments he typically participates in (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix) this is historically his weakest, having never made the podium. However the parcours should suit him to a T and hes never finished outside of the top seven, hes just been unfortunate with what the race has become with Pogaar.His best result came in 2024 when it came to a sprint. Its likely this is Lidl-Treks best method of seeing some form of success this time too. Teams need to work together to reduce the likelihood of a Pogaar/Van der Poel escapade and then throw everything at bringing them back if/when the attack happens. The parcours works in their favour and history does too, but will he have the form?Visma-Lease a BikeVisma-Lease a BikeGoal: Turn things around for Wout van AertWout van Aert has been struggling to rediscover his best form. The Belgians only Monument win is Milan-San Remo back in 2020 and hes had a disrupted start to his season this year. While its hard to see him challenging the favourites right now, it would be a welcome sight, and its Visma-Lease a Bikes only option now after Matthew Brennan had to pull out with illness.Van Aerts last Classics win came at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in 2024, but on his best day he is still an extremely powerful figure that can soldier on through tough terrain to get the job done. His best bet at victory here is probably comes in a small group sprint. The only issue with that is, his most recent performance in a finish like that at the recent Tirreno-Adriatico, he lost the sprint to Van der Poel, Giulio Pellizarri, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Clment Champoussin. Still, he has kilometres in the legs, performed well at Strade Bianche and theres less climbing here. Discount him at your peril.Visma-Lease a Bike need to work on not allowing Van der Poel and Pogaar to simply ride away. Easier said than done, but swarming around the front of the peloton when the Cipressa and Poggio hit to be disruptive wont hurt. They were disjointed approaching the Cipressa last year and wont want the same thing to happen again. With the teams lineup including Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson, theyve got the right blend of skillsets to help Van Aert.Pinarello-Q36.5A.S.O./Charly LpezGoal: Keep Tom Pidcock in positionTom Pidcock almost pulled off a shock in 2024 when he went clear in the final kilometre of Milan-San Remo, chasing and overtaking Matteo Sobrero only to be caught in the last few hundred metres. Pidcock is one of the most explosive riders in the peloton, he has a strong sprint and is climbing better than ever. He won Milano-Torino earlier in the week so has the form too.It might have been 200m too far for him in 2024, however a podium spot feels up for grabs as long as Pinarello-Q36.5 keep him in a good position. He was thwarted by a badly timed mechanical in 2025, so wasnt close to where he shouldve been on the Cipressa, if he can be at or near the front over the final climbs, he has both the descending ability to potentially go clear coming off the Poggio and the sprint to contest the finish in a group.EF Education-EasyPostA.S.O./Billy CeustersGoal: Embrace the chaosEF Education-EasyPost know how to light up a race. Their DNA is attacking, and when theres less structure and more ability to embrace the chaos thats when they thrive. The final 30km of Milan-San Remo is exactly that. Madness.Kasper Asgreen might be past his Classics-winning best of 2021, when he won E3 Saxo Bank Classic and the Tour of Flanders, but hes a wise head to lead the team. They have strong puncheurs in Mikkel Honor and Harry Sweeny, but their best chance is a Michael Valgren escape. The Dane has had a tough few years but hes back to winning ways, taking a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico a week ago and riding to a strong 13th at Strade Bianche.In case of a sprint finish, the team have Estonian Madis Mihkels and Luke Lamperti. The American finished in the top ten at both Omloop Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne before winning a stage at Paris-Nice, but he finished 108th in his only San Remo appearance and Mihkels best is 66th, so chaos is certainly Plan A.Decathlon-CMA CGMCon Chronis/Getty ImagesGoal: Deploy one of the worlds finest leadout trainsThis rejuvenation of Decathlon-CMA CGM into a potential superteam is quite something. Their presence in the sprints has been refreshing, spearheaded so far by Tobias Lund Andresen, who has won a stage at both the Tour Down Under and Tirreno-Adriatico this season. The Dane also raced to sixth at Omloop and seventh at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne as the best-placed rider in the squad. It will be a tough task to make it to the finish of Milan-San Remo in the front group, but if he makes it he has a real chance against the likes of Philipsen, Pedersen and Van Aert.Outside of a sprint, they have Paul Lapeira and Jordan Labrosse climbing well for potential wildcards depending on how the finale plays out. Related Posts Will Tadej Pogaar ever win Milan-San Remo? How to win Milan-San Remo Cycling Spring Classics 2026: Race dates, Monuments, cobbles and live TV guide Milan-San Remo 2026 preview: Routes, favourites, how to watch and start lists As for the restGoal 1: Work for a sprint finishHistory over the past two decades dictates the race ends in a sprint finish more often than not, which is why Van der Poel and Pogaar ruffle some feathers. If teams like Decathlon-CMA CGM, Soudal-QuickStep, NSN Cycling or even Unibet-Rose Rockets want to do something, this is their best chance.It calls for somewhat of a mass effort to ensure the aforementioned two dont stay away, getting your ducks in order before the Cipressa and keeping attentive to any antsy movement off the front.Goal 2: Do a Matej Mohori?One of the most surprising Milan-San Remo victories in recent memory was Matej Mohoris 2022 victory. He jumped away on the descent of the Poggio with the help of a dropper post and never looked back. Even a dropped chain couldnt thwart him. Jasper Stuyven won in similar fashion in 2021, only just holding off the sprinters. If theres a big group at the top of the Poggio and your team doesnt have a sprinter, its time to attack.Surprises are always possible in cycling, especially with the best half an hour of the pro season. Will 2026 deliver another one?The post How each team should try to win mens Milan-San Remo appeared first on Cyclist.