"If I come back to San Remo it will only be to eat focaccia..."
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.
Stood out to me today: "If I come back to San Remo it will only be to eat focaccia..."
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
"I probably shouldn't be disappointed, but I can't help it."
Tom Pidcock on losing Milano-Sanremo by centimeters
"To be honest, I need a bit of time to reflect," Pidcock said in the mixed zone after finishing second at Cycling Pro Net. "Right now I'm very disappointed, because it hurts when you come so close. If Tadej had gone solo and I'd finished second on my own, I'd probably be sitting here happy. But this was four centimeters, and that hurts a lot."
He tried to put it in perspective, and couldn't quite get there. "Of course I'm losing here to Tadej, the best bike rider ever. I probably shouldn't be disappointed, but I can't help it. I'll need to look at it in the bigger picture, because for now I'm mainly disappointed. I was so close to a Monument, but what I did was incredible, and I'm proud of that."
The legs were there. "I felt amazing," Pidcock said. On the Poggio, Tadej Pogačar's pattern of 30-second surges and slight eases actually suited him. "It meant I could recover a little. I just had to stay in the wheel, like when you're riding behind a motorbike."
He then joked: "Tadej already told me he won't be coming back now that he's won Sanremo, so which motorbike am I supposed to use next?" He added: "If you're the only guy left with Tadej in a Monument, then it has been a good performance. Ask me again in a few days in Catalonia how I feel, and then I'll have had time to reflect."
"They saw I had a small bleed in my head. A minor stroke. Probably caused by the wrong medication."
Eddy Merckx on his minor stroke, discovered by his daughter
Eddy Merckx broke his hip in a cycling accident in December 2024. Four surgeries followed in the space of six months. Then, in late August, while still hospitalized in Antwerp for the hip, something else surfaced. "It was my daughter who noticed it," Merckx told HLN. "She wanted to show me something on her phone and noticed I couldn't see properly on my left side. It was blurry. I hadn't noticed anything myself. I never lost my speech either. A nurse came immediately. After a scan, they saw I had a small bleed in my head. A minor stroke. Probably caused by the wrong medication."
The 80-year-old cannot yet drive because of the stroke and depends on his wife, daughter, and son Axel for transportation. Walking is improving. He gets on the bike occasionally. "On the indoor trainer that goes reasonably well. Otherwise it's difficult. I've already been out on a women's bike outside once. I hope that when the weather improves I'll be able to ride a bit more."
"It's only then that you realize how much it means to win and to be one of the best riders in the peloton."
Lotte Kopecky on winning Milano-Sanremo and coming back
Lotte Kopecky went into the race with form from Nokere but still carrying the weight of a difficult 2025. She spoke at length to HLN after the finish. On the Cipressa she found herself drifting back to 25th or 30th, but was able to move through the field cleanly. "That gave me a good feeling and a confidence boost, that the legs were still good." When Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney went down in the descent, Kopecky's first thought was tactical: "I thought: what's going to happen on the Poggio now? Because if I still wanted to go with a group, that was going to be harder without Kasia." Then came Puck Pieterse's attack, and teammate Lorena Wiebes called it in her earpiece. "That was the signal to take maximum advantage and try to stay away in that group."
In the sprint, she had enough. "At the moment I accelerated, I felt there was still a lot of power in my legs. And I knew: they are going to need very strong legs to come over me." On what the win means after last year: "Yes, absolutely. Last year wasn't my best year on the bike. Things went against me more than with me. It's only then that you realize how much it means to win and to be one of the best riders in the peloton." She placed the victory high in her palmares. "After last year, it feels like I can open a new account. It's very cool to win here. Especially with how the finale played out."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
Not awarded today
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
"I'm doing reasonably well — five broken ribs and a micro-fracture in my shoulder. It could definitely have been worse." — Debora Silvestri, updating her condition after her horrible crash in the Cipressa descent at Milano-Sanremo Donne, Instagram
"It flattered me that it was at Wout's request. And Wout confirmed that himself." — Victor Campenaerts, called last-minute to replace the sick Matthew Brennan at Milano-Sanremo, speaking to HLN.
"I couldn't say this before the race, but in a small group there was also a 90 percent chance we'd be sprinting with Kopecky. Or she would have had to be feeling bad. Last year Lotte did a lot for me, and for her it's a great sign that after a difficult season we're 100 percent behind her." — Lorena Wiebes, last year's Milano-Sanremo Donne winner, to In De Leiderstrui.
"I saw him next to me on the ground when we crashed, and the next time I saw him was at the finish." — Wout van Aert on Tadej Pogačar's comeback in Milano-Sanremo, to Cycling Pro Net
"It's not a miracle — it's hard work. He worked his ass off." — Lidl-Trek DS Gregory Rast on Mads Pedersen's fourth place in Milano-Sanremo, his first race back after multiple fractures sustained at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana in February, to In De Leiderstrui.
"I could stand up right away after the crash — well, right away? I slid for so long, I've never even been in a water slide that long. Once I was on my feet, I tried to pick up my bike. But a rider from Alpecin — Tim Marsman — was lying completely on top of it. I first and foremost asked him if he was okay. He thought I wanted to pull the bike out from under him and said: 'I can't move.' But I told him above all not to stress and that I wanted to help him. It didn't look good." — Tadej Pogačar on his crash and his first concern being Marsman, to In De Leiderstrui.
"Everyone came and fell in front of us. At that point, I knew the race was over. My first thought was to go and check if she is OK because she didn't look good. I asked if she was OK. She was reacting, but I think she hit her head. I think she maybe went too fast, I'm not sure." — Kim Le Court on the crash involving Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and others in the Cipressa descent of the Milano-Sanremo Donne, to CyclingNews.
"If this was the best Van der Poel, then in two weeks' time... he will simply be slaughtered." — Pundit and Beat Cycling Club DS Thijs Zonneveld on Mathieu van der Poel's Milano-Sanremo performance, in In De Waaier.
"If I come back to San Remo it will only be to eat focaccia..." — Tadej Pogačar, after winning Milano-Sanremo for the first time, hinting he may not return to the race, to CyclingNews.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay