Thanks to a strong tailwind on the Ligurian coast of the Mediterranean, the 2023 Milan-San Remo was the second fastest ever for the 116-year-old Italian monument. [Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin de Ceuninck set the fastest time on the Poggio climb.

His solo attack at the top of the final climb catapulted him to a solo victory in Via Roma. [According to data experts who analyzed the race via video footage, Van der Pol ran up the 3.7 km poggio in 5:40.

This is three seconds faster than the 5:43 recorded by Tadei Pogachar, Filippo Ganna, and Wout van Aert, and even faster than that recorded by Maurizio Fondriest and Laurent Jalabert in 1995. Other sources give slightly different times, but van der Pol was in record-breaking form.

Ganna finished second on the day, with Van Aert in third.

"I think Milan-San Remo is the only monument where you can find a stage racer like Pogachar, a time trial world champion and hour record holder like Ganna, and of course a top five like Wout van Aert. So many riders can win, but only one can win," Van der Pol said.

Van der Pol, who crossed the finish line with victory in hand, has etched his name in the long history of Milan-San Remo as the first Dutchman to win the race in 38 years. He also followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, the great French cyclist Raymond Pridor, who had won at the same monument 62 years earlier.

"It's a unique race, really hard to win. You don't always win if you are the strongest, so when you win it's really special. There aren't many solo winners, so I'm proud of my performance," said Van der Pol, who won Milan-San Remo on his fourth attempt. Last year he finished third, and in 2021 he was fifth.

Van der Pol averaged 39.18 km/h on the Poggio climb, with an estimated average power output of 564 watts or 7.5 watts/kg, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Poggio is only 3.7 km long, with a winding hill that averages 3.6%, but its severity hits the riders at the end of one of the longest one-day races, and after nearly seven hours in the saddle. The Poggio was added in 1960 as the final ascent of the Milan-San Remo, and became the race's current style.

Van der Pol recorded an average speed of 45.773 km/h, the second fastest of all time. The record for fastest speed remains Gianni Buño, who set an average speed of 45.806 km/h in 1990.