Van der Poel benefits from Pogacar's early attack to win Milan-San Remo again

SAN REMO, Italy (AP) — Even with a new tactic, Tadej Pogacar still couldn’t win the Milan-San Remo.

Pogacar attacked earlier than usual — on the penultimate Cipressa climb — but Mathieu van der Poel followed the Slovenian standout every step of the way and eventually won a three-man sprint Saturday that also included Filippo Ganna.

“He tried everything he could,” Van der Poel said of Pogacar, the reigning world, Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion. “He (made) the decisive move on Cipressa. I think everyone knows how impressive this is. He was maybe the strongest uphill but I felt I had control on the wheel.”

It was Van der Poel’s second Milan-San Remo victory after the Dutch rider also took the season’s first “Monument” race two years ago. Van der Poel’s maternal grandfather, French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, also won the Milan-San Remo in 1961. He died in 2019.

Having tried unsuccessfully previously to swing into action on the Poggio climb shortly before the finish, Pogacar this time made his first attack midway up the Cipressa with 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) to go in the 289-kilometer (180-mile) race, which started in Pavia this year.

Van der Poel and Ganna were the only riders capable of sticking with Pogacar and the three studied each other on the finishing straight before Van der Poel made the first move — which proved decisive.

Ganna finished second and Pogacar settled for third.

“I felt pretty strong,” Van der Poel said. “I felt that I still had a good sprint in the legs and I knew that the other two wanted to make it a long sprint, because I’m known for the shorter sprints. So I think I surprised them a bit by launching my sprint at the 300-meter sign. But I felt strong enough to hold it.”

Added Pogacar: “They were just too fast for me and there was nothing I could do.”

Michael Matthews won the sprint for fourth, crossing 43 seconds behind.

“It was an edition to remember,” Van der Poel said. “I don’t remember when the decisive move was on the Cipressa but it was surely a long time ago. It was special with just the three of us at the finish."

Pogacar and Van der Poel shattered the Cipressa climbing record of 9 minutes, 16 seconds, set in 1996 when Gabriele Colombo launched his attack there and went on to a solo victory.

It was the seventh Monument win for Van der Poel, who has also won the Tour of Flanders three times and Paris-Roubaix twice.

The other Monuments are Leige-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia — races that Pogacar has won multiple times.

European champion Lorena Wiebes beat standout Marianne Vos in a sprint finish to win the women’s race, which returned after 20 years.

Swiss rider Noemi Ruegg crossed third.

Wiebes was helped by a leadout from teammate Lotte Kopecky, the world champion.

The women’s race followed a 156-kilometer (97-mile) route from Genoa to San Remo.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

Mathieu van der Poel hugs a woman after winning the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Mathieu van der Poel reacts as he crosses the finish line in first place, with Filippo Ganna on second place, centre, and Tadej Pogacar, right, on third place of the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

Lorena Wiebes celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the women's elite race of the Sanremo Women, one day cycling race from Genova to Sanremo (156km), in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Lorena Wiebes celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the women's elite race of the Sanremo Women, one day cycling race from Genova to Sanremo (156km), in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Tadej Pogacar leads, with Mathieu van der Poel on the second position, during the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Tadej Pogacar, front, looks at Mathieu van der Poel as they fight for the first position of the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Mathieu van der Poel reacts as he crosses the finish line in first place, with Filippo Ganna on second place, centre, and Tadej Pogacar, right, on third place of the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump is traveling to Michigan on Tuesday to promote his efforts to boost U.S. manufacturing, trying to counter fears about a weakening job market and worries that still-rising prices are taking a toll on Americans' pocketbooks.

The day trip will include a tour of a Ford factory in Dearborn that makes F-150 pickups, the bestselling domestic vehicle in the U.S. The Republican president is also set to deliver a speech at the Detroit Economic Club at the MotorCity Casino.

It comes as the Trump administration’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has sparked an outcry, with defenders of the U.S. central bank pushing back against Trump's efforts to exert more control over it.

Federal data from December released before the president left Washington showed Inflation declined a bit last month as prices for gas and used cars fell — a sign that cost pressures are slowly easing. Consumer prices rose 0.3% in December from the prior month, the Labor Department said, the same as in November.

“We have very low inflation,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he left Washington, adding “and growth is going up. We have tremendous growth numbers.”

November's off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere illustrated a shift away from Republicans as public concerns about kitchen table issues persist. In their wake, the White House said Trump would put a greater emphasis on talking directly to the public about his economic policies after doing relatively few events around the country earlier in his term.

The president has suggested that jitters about affordability are a “hoax” unnecessarily stirred by Democrats. Still, though he's imposed steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners around the world, Trump has reduced some of them when it comes to making cars — including extending import levies on foreign-made auto parts until 2030.

Ford announced last month that it was scrapping plans to make an electric F-150, despite pouring billions of dollars into broader electrification, after the Trump administration slashed targets to have half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, eliminated EV tax credits and proposed weakening the emissions and gas mileage rules.

Trump's Michigan swing follows economy-focused speeches he gave last month in Pennsylvania — where his gripes about immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation — and North Carolina, where he insisted his tariffs have spurred the economy, despite residents noting the squeeze of higher prices.

Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024, after it swung Democratic and backed Joe Biden in 2020. He marked his first 100 days in office with a rally-style April speech outside Detroit, where he focused more on past campaign grudges than his administration's economic or policy plans.

During that visit nearly nine months ago, Trump also spoke at Selfridge Air National Guard Base and announced a new fighter jet mission, allaying fears that the base could close. It represented a win for Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — and the two even shared a hug.

This time, Democrats have panned the president's trip, singling out national Republicans' opposition to extending health care subsidies and recalling a moment in October 2024 when Trump, then also addressing the Detroit Economic Club, said that Democrats' retaining the White House would mean “our whole country will end up being like Detroit."

"You’re going to have a mess on your hands,” Trump said during a campaign stop back then.

Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said that “after spending months claiming that affordability was a ‘hoax’ and creating a health care crisis for Michiganders, Donald Trump is now coming to Detroit — a city he hates — to tout his billionaire-first agenda while working families suffer."

“Michiganders are feeling the effects of Trump’s economy every day,” Hertel said in a statement.

Weissert reported from Washington.

President Donald Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, reflected on door, leave to board Marine One, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)