As the sun set on San Remo, Mathieu van der Pol began to understand the significance of his solo victory in Milan-San Remo.

Few riders have successfully made a solo attack in Poggio and won alone on the Via Roma. Sixty-two years after his grandfather Raymond Poulidor won solo in the same finish, Van der Pol set a new record for climbing Poggio.

Van der Pol placed his Milan-San Remo victory above his father's world cyclocross title in his hometown of Hoogerheide. It also made him fall in love with the magic of Milan-San Remo.

"I love the last 100km, but the problem is the 200km before that," the Alpecin-Desseuninck rider joked.

"It's a unique race, really hard to win. You don't always win if you're the strongest, so when you do win it's really special. Not many riders win solo, so I'm really proud of my performance." [I was told that this is the only monument my grandfather won at, so I'm happy to win at the same monument.

Van der Pol's desire to win often pushes him to be overly aggressive or overly defensive in big races. This year he rode Milan-San Remo with clear logic and followed the Dutch cycling strategy of licking his rivals' plates clean before starting his own.

When Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked in Poggio, he waited for his rival Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) to close the gap with a great struggle before Pogachar and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), attacked to pull Van Aalto away.

"This might be my experience now," Van der Pol explained. 'This is my fourth Milano-Sanremo. If this was my first Milano-Sanremo, I don't think I would have attacked at the end. If this was my first time in Milano-Sanremo, I wouldn't have attacked at the end.

"In the past I might have been a little too defensive in Poggio, aiming too much for a sprint.

Van der Pol, however, insisted that he did not take any risks on the descent of Poggio.

"I went down at about 80% speed. I didn't want to take too many risks. If I had crashed on the downhill, I wouldn't have forgiven myself. If the pack came back, I could still sprint for the win, but if I crashed, it would be impossible. That's what I thought."

"I just tried to make a steady descent. Once I got to the bottom, I just started riding as hard as I could to the finish."

Van der Pol spoke at length about his victory at the casino in San Remo, knowing he had hit the jackpot.

"Milan-San Remo may be the easiest monument to run, but it's the hardest to win. You don't get many chances, so I'm really happy."

"It's also the only monument where you can find stage racers like Pogachar, time trial world champions and hour record holders like Ganna, and of course the top five like Wout Van Art. Many riders can win, but only one can win."

This year it was Mathieu van der Pol.