Tadej has successfully started the 2025 season, after winning the UAE Tour, he was the best for the second time in a row at one of his favorite races, Strade Bianche. However, on the way to 1st place on the Tuscan white roads, he suffered a nasty crash, which caused him to finish the race in Siena bloodied and with a torn world rainbow jersey.
But this mishap, which did not leave any serious consequences, is already in the past. Tadej is healthy and ready for the next big challenge, Saturday’s 116th Milan–Sanremo. Before the first and with a 289-kilometer route also the longest monument of the season, he is especially motivated, as it is one of the few races he hasn’t won yet.
»I was back on the bike already on the Monday after Strade Bianche and had a couple of easier days. Naturally I was a bit stiff and sore, but thankfully I’m feeling good again now.We’re coming into a really exciting period of racing and I’m feeling ready for Milano–Sanremo. I know the final of the parcours really well by now and we’ll hope to light up the race on Saturday. Can we win? For sure it won’t be easy but we will give it a good shot.As we’ve seen in the past there are a number of scenarios that this race can finish in. For sure we will have a plan and put ourselves in the best position possible. It’s a race we’d dearly love to win,« Tadej said before his fifth appearance at the »Classicissima«, where he is steadily approaching the top.
So far, he has achieved 12th, 5th, 4th, and last year 3rd place, so perhaps the time has come to jump to the highest step of the podium. In the race against extremely strong competition, which will include last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck), Tadej will count on the help of his teammates from the UAE Team Emirates – XRG Isaac Del Toro, Jhonatan Narvaez, Domen Novak, Nils Politt, Vegard Stake Laengen, and Tim Wellens.
The question remains whether Tadej will attack on the climbs to Cipressa or Poggio, or perhaps wait for the outcome in a sprint on the famous Via Roma. We will get the answer on Saturday when Tadej, who has already won Il Lombardia (4), Liege–Bastogne–Liege (2), and the Tour of Flanders (1), will try to add a fourth monument to his collection of trophies. If he succeeds, he will only be missing a victory at Paris–Roubaix.