Fifth, fourth, third, and third. This record over the past four years at Milan-San Remo is an enviable one, but it is missing the crucial win which would put a gloss on the whole thing, elevate it to greatness.
It is the record of world champion Tadej Pogačar, who once again at San Remo on Saturday attacked, attacked, and attacked again, but still could not get away on his own. His Cipressa move dragged Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna with him, and repeated digs on the Poggio could not dislodge either; Van der Poel went on to win the sprint, with Ganna powering past Pogačar for second.
It is yet another late-March disappointment for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, then, the man who can seemingly win anything he wants to, apart from Milan-San Remo. It must be frustrating.
"Mathieu was the fastest, so 'chapeau' to him. He was just so strong today and Pippo [Ganna] too, I have to be satisfied with third," he said post-race to Cyclingnews.
For all his explosiveness, it appeared that the field just wasn't as stretched as it needed to be for Pogačar to go alone on the Cipressa, and stay away - his UAE teammates Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez tried their best to set the pace on the iconic climb, but it wasn't enough to drop Van der Poel and Ganna.
"I don't hate Milan-San Remo but one year it needs to go right," Pogačar explained. "For sure we will come for more next year.
"We did everything possible, not just me. I can be really proud about how we rode today. Every year we do better and we showed more aggression and more willpower on the Cipressa. Today we did an amazing race, I tried to finish it off, but there were two guys faster than me…"
Perhaps more can't be done, but it feels like Pogačar's team needs to do even more work on the lead-in to the Cipressa and the climb itself to launch the Slovenian to victory. Or there needs to be a lot more fortune.
"I tried to go alone on the Cipressa, but it would be really optimistic for it to work but I was also happy to go away with Mathieu and Filippo," he added.
"I would prefer if the Poggio was 5km at 10%, but it is what it is. It’s a hard race for me to make the difference. The law of physics is playing here and you cannot do magic."
Fifth, fourth, third, and third is good, but one gets the sense that Pogačar would trade it all for one win. Van der Poel, meanwhile, has finished fifth, third, first, 10th, and first. That's the really enviable San Remo record.
