Nibali gives Pidcock some friendly advice for Sanremo: "He won't be the favorite then. But I've been successful like this a few times"

This Saturday, Italy will host the first cycling monument of 2025, Milan-Sanremo. The last Italian winner was Vincenzo Nibali in 2018. The man from Sicily is now an ambassador for Q36.5, a team that, with Tom Pidcock, also has a favorite in its ranks. Nibali gives the British rider some friendly advice.

Nibali won the race in 2018, representing Bahrain Victorious. "One thing I did in 2018 was I totally snobbed all pre-race events; the presentation, the meet and greet with the mayor of Milan… I had a pre-race build up that was totally relaxed. I didn’t feel the weight of expectation on me."

"Also I knew that if I had an advantage at the top of the Poggio I couldn’t do the descent at full gas because I’d already tried that one year and since it’s a technical descent you spend too much energy accellerating out of each corner and you arrive at the bottom cooked. So I knew I had to do the descent fast but without accelerating too hard out of the corner."

Read more below the photo!

Nibali gives Pidcock advice for Milan-Sanremo finale

Good legs alone are not enough in La Primavera, according to Nibali. "San Remo is the most technical monument. To win it requires creativity, the ability to seize the moment. You cannot allow yourself to decide in advance where you will attack. For example one year I had decided that I had to wait and only attack on the Poggio. So I waited, waited, waited. Then on the Poggio I wasn’t able to launch my attack."

"So you need to know how to improvise, you need to be able to pay maximum attention at all times because things can change at a moment's notice," says Nibali.

Finally, the Shark has some advice for Pidcock: "Follow Van der Poel or Pogacar. He is the lesser favourite of the three and needs to attack after them. When he follows their attacks he needs to try to be ever so slightly conservative in order to be able to attack them again. It’s very hard. I managed to do it a few times in my career. On the descent at Lombardia, at Sheffield in the Tour de France…."

Selection Q36.5 Milan-Sanremo 2025

Tom Pidcock
Xabier Mikel Azparren
Mark Donovan
Emils Liepins
Tom Pidcock
Milan Vader
Nick Zukowsky

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