'Bold and beautiful' - Philippe Gilbert hails Tadej Pogacar ambition for more Monuments ahead of Milano-Sanremo

Updated 16/03/2024 at 12:48 GMT

The first of the 2024 Monuments takes place in the form of Milano-Sanremo and Tadej Pogacar will be in action looking to add to to his growing list of cycling honours. So far, this race has eluded his grasp, but one of the sport's legends, Philippe Gilbert, has said that the Slovenian is well capable of winning it this time around. Watch Milan-Sanremo live on Eurosport and discovery+.

Strade Bianche highlights: Pogacar destroys everyone with wild solo attack

Philippe Gilbert has backed Tadej Pogacar to add to his collection of wins at Monuments in 2024, but insists there is ‘no favourite’ for the Milano-Sanremo title this year.

UAE Team Emirates superstar Pogacar already has three Giro di Lombardia wins under his belt as well as victories in the Liege-Bastone-Liege and the Tour of Flanders.

The Slovenian only needs Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix to complete the set and join the exclusive club of riders to have won all five classics in their career, and tackles the first of these this weekend.

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Speaking exclusively to Eurosport, Gilbert, who won all the Monuments bar Milano-Sanremo, admitted he would love to see Pogacar achieve the feat, thus far only achieved by Belgian trio Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck.

Ahead of the first Monument of the season, Gilbert hailed the 25-year-old’s ambitions in cycling as "bold and beautiful".

"There is no favourite this year for Milano-Sanremo,” he said, declining to predict a winner. “Still Pogacar. They're going to blow up the race and he's capable of winning.

“He loves the history of cycling. He came to win the Tour of Flanders [in 2023], and I say hats off to him for being a contender for the Tour de France.

Pogacar reveals where he plans to launch attack at Milano-Sanremo

“He wants to win the Giro, Milano-Sanremo. He wants to build a unique record. It's not like [Jonas] Vingegaard who would settle for winning the Tour de France.

“Vingegaard would prefer to win the Tour six times rather than the Giro. Pogacar, it's bold and beautiful. Me, who dreamt of winning all five Monuments, I want to see a rider do it.”

Two of the main features of Milano-Sanremo are the iconic Cipressa and Poggio climbs in the final 30km of the race.

Following Pogacar’s blistering Strade Bianche solo victory, UAE have hinted that Pogacar could launch a similar attack on Cipressa, an otherwise unusual tactic for the race.

Gilbert believes the strategy could pay off for Pogacar and the team this year.

“There are 11 km between Cipressa and the Poggio. It's totally unfavourable to attackers,” he said.

“I see, however, him imposing a strong pace with his team on Cipressa, but his final attack will be on the Poggio. He attacked three times two years ago; nobody has ever done that. He's the only one who did it.

“He's circling around, and I wouldn't be surprised if they go all out this year.”

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Stream the cycling season, including Milan-Sanremo live on Eurosport and discovery+.

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