Milano-Sanremo: Crazy finale sees Jasper Philipsen sprint away to victory from Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) left Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in his wake, as team-mate and last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel propelled him to a stunning sprint victory at Milano-Sanremo.

Pogacar and Van der Poel were all set for a showdown late on, and while the two achieved a small gap over the final climb, the Poggio, a very mixed group of 12 riders made it to the final straight, the Via Roma, all with a chance of claiming victory. Alpecin-Deceuninck, registering that Plan A wasn't going to work, switched to Plan B in an instant and it was the Belgian Philipsen who capitalised in the last 100 metres to storm to a photo-finish win from Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula).

As Philipsen claimed a maiden Monument title, following last year's Tour de France green jersey, for Matthews it was his third time on the podium, his first second place, from eleven appearances across a 15-year cycling career.

Just as the race ended at a furious pace, so it began, when the flag dropped in Pavia, some 44km south of the Lombardy capital that gives the race its name. Eleven riders from lesser fancied squads slipped the moorings of the peloton within a couple of kilometres of the start. While they were never permitted more than a three-minute advantage, they cooperated well and worked hard enough to stay intact for almost 250km.

The 11 consisted of Davide Baldaccini, Valerio Conti and Kyrylo Tsarenko (Corratec-Vini Fantini); Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Sergio Samitier (Movistar), Romain Combaud (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Davide Bais and Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa), Andrea Pietrobon, Alessandro Tonelli, and Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè). Germani changed his mind and returned to the bunch after 20km in the break.

The work to keep the 10 riders contained was, for the first four hours, performed almost exclusively by two men from two teams - Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek and team-mate of the eventual winner, Silvan Dillier (Alpecin Deceuninck). Mosca's team-mate Mads Pedersen had said prior to the race that he had confidence in his legs.

The race roared along at speed on initially an easterly heading, before turning back towards the coast and aiming due south towards the gleaming Ligurian coastline.

Although the speed ramped up on the penultimate climb - the Cipressa - things remained relatively calm. But when the pack hit the famous final ascent, the Poggio, Pogacar - as he had said he would pre-race - attacked. His first acceleration divided what was left of the bunch; his second dig, which came less than 300m from the top of the climb, was only followed by Van der Poel.

The pair did not achieve sufficient of a gap that Britain's Tom Pidcock, known for his downhill prowess, could not catch them on the descent. Hesitation at the foot of the climb meant other chasers could too. An attack from 2022 champion Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) looked good until it was foiled, while one from Pidcock himself similarly seemed as if it might make it to the line. He was caught with 200m to go, however, and it was Philipsen who, having being delivered to the finale by Van der Poel, followed Pedersen's wheels and picked his moment perfectly in a three-up sprint.

"I had a feeling today could be my day," he said afterwards. "I had really good legs from the start. I was feeling good and I believed, but obviously everything needs to fall in place. On the Poggio the favourites looked a little at each other and I was able to come back. Mathieu did a big team job and I thank him a lot for what he did."

Runner-up Matthews was, he said "happy with the podium, but being so close it's bittersweet."

For Pogacar, although he "had incredible legs... this year it was not hard enough to be a climber's race." Partly that will be down to his team, who were present in sufficient numbers on the hillier final section of the race and unable to set a hard enough tempo to trouble the sprinters who made it to Via Roma.

The first of five Monuments - professional cycling's most prestigious one-day races - of the season was finished in the fastest time of any in its history. The 288km course was completed in six hours, 14 minutes and 44 seconds, with an average speed of 46kph.

- - -

Stream the cycling season, including all three Grand Tours, live on Eurosport and discovery+