‘Bold and beautiful’ – Philippe Gilbert hails Tadej Pogacar ambition for more Monuments ahead of Milan-Sanremo

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 Milan-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 Milan-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.

Speaking exclusively to Eurosport, Gilbert, who won all the Monuments bar Milan-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 Milan-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.

“He wants to win the Giro, Milan-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 Milan-Sanremo are the iconic Cipressa and Poggio climbs in the final 30km of 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.”