Milano-Sanremo: Adam Blythe on UAE Team Emirates tactics as Tadej Pogacar finishes third – ‘The plan failed massively’

Eurosport expert Adam Blythe has said that UAE Team Emirates’ Milano-Sanremo plan “failed massively” after Tadej Pogacar finished third on the Italian west coast.

Pogacar, however, was left alone on the Poggio di Sanremo, as the Slovenian finished as the only UAE rider in the top 10.

Speaking on the Breakaway show on Eurosport after the race, Blythe, winner of the National Championships road race in 2016, said that UAE’s plan had “failed massively”, with fellow Eurosport expert Dan Lloyd saying that Pogacar would be “very frustrated” afterwards.

“I think the plan failed massively,” Blythe said.

“With a tailwind coming into the coast on the Poggio, [an earlier Pogacar attack] would have been suicidal,” added Blythe when he was asked whether Pogacar should have launched a long-range solo attack. “They started way too early on the Capi, going too hard early on and using up a lot of riders. [They were] ill-positioned massively coming into the Cipressa.

“Pogacar did what he set out to do. He attacked on the Poggio as he said he would, did it twice, created a small gap and then got it back when it all came back together. That guy beat some of the best sprinters in the world. He beat [Mads] Pedersen and [Jasper] Stuyven in the sprint. The guys he beat – third place is the best-possible outcome for him.”

Lloyd agreed, and believed that Pogacar would cut a frustrated figure afterwards. He also questioned the team’s tactics.

“They kept with the plan they had,” Lloyd said. “Where was Diego Ulissi? There were a couple of riders on the scene like Marc Hirschi who was loitering but never actually did a job on the front, and that’s what I feel like they were missing.

“They did go hard on the Tre Capi, and you could see the riders suffering there, but they’d already used [Domen] Novak there. They’d used [Alessandro] Covi as well. It meant that Tim Wellens was already being asked to go on the Cipressa. The plan would have been not to use [him] on the Cipressa, to save him for the Poggio to ramp it up there.

“That’s why the Poggio wasn’t raced super hard because every other team was looking at them knowing what [they] want[ed] to do, and it was up to them to do it. They didn’t have the numbers left to do it.

“Behind the scenes, Pogacar is going to be very frustrated. That’s the first time he’s got separation on the Poggio from anybody else. This year, he had amazing legs. He had to leave it close to the finale to make his move.”