Soudal-QuickStep will be without their planned leader, Paul Magnier, for the first Monument of the year at Milan-San Remo on Saturday, with the Frenchman still suffering after crashing twice on the final day of Tirreno-Adriatico.
Magnier crashed hard at high speed during the final sprint on stage 7 in Italy, after already coming down during the final day. A medical update from the team confirmed that he'd only suffered bruising and abrasions.
Despite avoiding major injury, after further examinations by the team’s doctors on Monday, the decision was taken to rest Magnier and skip Milan-San Remo, ahead of his next big goal Gent-Wevelgem on March 30.
While Soudal-QuickStep confirmed to Cyclingnews that Magnier won't ride La Primavera, a replacement is yet to be confirmed, with just three days to go until the start in Pavia.
If it was the Milan-San Remo of old, then sprinter Tim Merlier would be a shoo-in, however, the race has largely been played out by the top punchy riders over the Poggio since 2015 – despite last year's ending in a bunch finish and sprinter Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Decueninck) taking the win.
Magnier had already stepped up for the Belgian team at the Classics in 2025, narrowly missing out on victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), before taking another second place at the Ename Samyn Classic, behind only Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
On the provisional start list unveiled by Milan-San Remo organisers RCS yesterday for Soudal-QuickStep are Mattia Cattaneo, Josef Černý, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Casper Pedersen, Max Schachmann and Martin Svrček.
