2025 Milan-San Remo Preview

The first cycling Monument of 2025, Milan-San Remo, is fast approaching and Tadej Pogacar will be going all out to break his drought in the race.

Out of the five Monuments, only Milan-San Remo has so far eluded him, and he will be desperate to add it to his palmares.

Pogacar has yet to race in Paris-Roubaix and that is unlikely to happen in 2025, which means Milan-San Remo is set to take priority.

Milan-San Remo could be the hardest of the five for him to win, and once again a host of top quality riders will be in the mix to deny him again this year.

Let’s take a closer look at Milan-San Remo 2025.

Pogacar out to end hoodoo

Tadej Pogacar has raced Milan-San Remo on four occasions and his best placed finish was third in last year’s race.

Previously he finished 12th 2020, then fifth in 2022 and fourth in 2023. So the Slovenian is getting closer to his goal of winning Milan-San Remo.

He is the hot fancy at 3.50 to win Milan-San Remo 2025, but a lot will need to go his way for it to happen.

In 2024 the race came down to a sprint, and it was Jasper Philipsen, who is a more recognised out-and-out sprinter, that came out on top.

When Pogacar won both Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia in 2024, he did it by launching attacks miles from home and then riding solo to victory.

It has become a trademark tactic from Pogacar, and even though the rest of the riders know it is coming, they can do little about it.

However, Milan-San Remo is a different race altogether and due to the nature of the 289km parcour, there is nowhere for him to attack early.

The only notable climbs, the Cipressa and Poggio, are towards the end of the race and not too steep.

Both Matthieu van der Poel in 2023 and Matej Mohoric in 2022, both managed to surge over the top of the Poggio and then ride solo to victory over the remaining 4km, most of which is a fast decent.

Again the problem for Pogacar is he will be a marked man up the Cipressa and Poggio, and every move can be quickly shut down by rival teams.

Pogacar and his team, UAE Team Emirates – XRG, will have to come up with another plan to try and get away, or rely on him winning a sprint finish.

The nature of the Poggio means that most sprinters are able to stay in contention without being spat out the back.

That is what happened with Philipsen in 2024 and the Alpecin-Deceuninck can be backed at 7.00 to win again.

Another sprinter in the same mould is Jonathan Milan. The Lidl-Trek rider is showing good form already this season and is priced at 11.00.

Van der Poel has what it takes to add to his 2023 success and is just behind Pogacar in the betting at 4.50.

Mohoric is 15.00 to repeat his 2022 heroics, but Milan-San Remo is wide open and a roughie could come out on top.

Michael Matthews, who finished second last year, losing the sprint, is a bigger price at 34.00, along with Tom Pidcock.

Pidcock is winning races since switching from Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, and will be even more determined to show his old team what they are missing.