Van der Poel wins Milan-San Remo to emulate grandfather

Van der Poel is the first Dutch rider to win Milan-San Remo since Hennie Kuiper in 1985

Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel won the prestigious Milan-San Remo 62 years after his grandfather with a late solo attack.

Italy's Filippo Ganna was second, 15 seconds back, pipping third-place Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar to the line.

Van der Poel's maternal grandfather, French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, won the one-day Monument race in 1961.

"I cannot imagine a better scenario than this one," said the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, who becomes the first Dutchman to win Milan San-Remo in almost 40 years.

"This is one of the races I really wanted to win. The way I won it today, it's beyond expectation. I'm really happy with this one."

Hennie Kuiper was the last rider from the Netherlands to win the race in 1985.

The 294km Milan-San Remo is one of five prestigious 'Monument' one-day races in cycling along with the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia.

Van der Poel has twice won the Tour of Flanders, in 2020 and 2022.

Britain's Tom Pidcock - who won the Strade Bianche classic last month - missed the race after suffering a concussion in Sunday's final stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico.

Mark Cavendish was the last British rider to win Milan-San Remo, for Colombia-HTC in 2009.

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