Mohoric drops to San Remo win

Dropper post-aided descent proves key to Slovenian's first Monument win, writes Vern Pitt

-  Vern Pitt

Аsk any cycling fan who was going to win the 2022 edition of Milan-San Remo in the days before the race and it's a safe bet many would have picked a Slovenian - Tadej Pogačar, or maybe even Primož Roglič.

They would have been proven half-right on Saturday afternoon, as lesser-fancied Slovenian national champion Matej Mohorič outfoxed them all to take his first Monument win.

It was a victory built on the famously twisty descent of the Poggio towards San Remo, where Mohorič used every centimetre of the road, and some of the gutter beyond, to build a gap to his rivals just big enough to make them hesitate to commit fully to the chase.

Not only did he create an instant legacy as the first Slovenian to win but also an instant market for dropper posts for road bikes, having fitted a Fox Transfer SL unit that lowered the saddle by 70mm, dropped his centre of gravity and made him more aerodynamic. At the finish line he lifted his bike above his head.

The Bahrain Victorious rider said: “The team set up a bike for me. We had this plan for a long, long time. I was thinking at first it's maybe not going to make a huge difference on the descent, but then I tried it in training and the first time I used it, I was amazed at how much safer it is.

“If you go normally, it gives you way more control of the bike and if you go full gas, of course, you can go a little bit faster. It's easier to avoid mistakes or correct them when they happen."