Bloodied and battered Pogacar fights back from a crash to finally conquer Milan-San Remo

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SAN REMO, Italy (AP) — Bloodied, bruised and battered Tadej Pogacar finally won the Milan-San Remo race.

Pogacar recovered from a crash about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the finish to edge out Tom Pidcock on the line and win the race known as La Classicissima for the first time on Sarurday.

“When I crashed, for a second I thought it’s all over because to crash in Imperia just before the most important part of the race is not ideal,” said Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates. "But luckily I was quickly back on the bike and not too much damage to me or to the bike.

“Then I saw my team ... they left out everything to come back to the front and they gave me back hope and the legs were still okay ... today if there is no team probably I would just go straight to the finish line.”

Milan-San Remo is one of the longest one-day classics in Europe at almost 300 kilometers (186 miles), and the first of the season.

It was one of the few titles that still eluded Pogacar, the five-time Grand Tour winner, and the Slovenian admitted several times to being desperate to change that.

Pogacar’s chances appeared to diminish when he was caught up in the crash that shredded the left side of his shorts and left him with scrapes and cuts on his leg.

Last year’s winner Mathieu van der Poel also went down but the duo managed to get back onto the back of the peloton at the start of the penultimate Cipressa climb.

Pogacar worked his way to the front, stuck with an initial attack and then attacked himself towards the top, with only Pidcock and van der Poel able to follow.

The trio had a gap of 25 seconds at the top although that was down to 11 seconds as they began the Poggio climb shortly before the finish.

Pogacar attacked halfway up and managed to drop van der Poel. He tried several times to shake Pidcock but couldn’t distance him and they were locked together as they crested the summit.

Little could separate the duo on the descent. Pogacar opened up the sprint 200 meters from the line and beat Pidcock by half a wheel.

“Honestly, I need time to reflect because right now I’m pretty disappointed because it hurts to be so close,” Pidcock said. "I was told it’s four centimeters.

"Tadej, he’s the best cyclist ever, so I can’t be disappointed but I can’t help it ... It was so close to a monument win. But I need to look at it from a wider perspective. Because I think what I did was quite amazing, I’m quite proud."

Wout Van Aert, who was also caught up in the crash, won a bunch sprint for third.

“I have to say I saw him (Pogacar) next to me on the ground when we crashed and then the next moment I saw him again was after the finish, so I have no clue what he has been doing, but it must have been impressive because it was quite a hard crash and he still managed to get in the front like that,” Van Aert said.

Lotte Kopecky edged Noemi Rüegg and Eleonora Gasparrini in a sprint of five to win the women’s race.

The race was marked by a horrific-looking crash on the descent of the Cipressa.

Several riders were caught up in the incident; Italian Debora Silvestri flew over a guardrail as she tried to avoid the pileup.

Silvestri’s team, Laboral Kutxa, said she was conscious as she was taken to hospital.

The women’s race followed a 156-kilometer (97-mile) route from Genoa to San Remo.

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