Mathieu van der Pol made an impressive return to the race in Milan-San Remo, taking the last podium position on Via Roma after a daring attack by Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) who ran solo on Poggio.

The Dutchman put in a great performance on the first day of this year's race after spending the first few months of 2022 rehabbing from a lingering back injury. However, the Alpecin Phoenix star was still discouraged after the race.

After the finish, he said he was disappointed that the chase group behind Mohoric (of which he was a part) could not catch up and battle for the win.

"I'm still disappointed," he said. 'We won the sprint for third place. It's a shame we couldn't sprint for the win today, but this is Milano-Sanremo. It's happened like this a few times and it's a hard race to win."

Van der Pol said in the morning at the Vigorelli Velodrome that he went into the race "without feeling any pressure," even if external expectations were high. He eventually joined the best group in Cipressa and Poggio, under pressure from UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo Visma.

On the technical descent of Poggio, it looked as if Van der Pol might contest victory in the 6.5-hour race, but Mohoric rode alone into San Remo to a famous victory.

"We all know that Matej Mohoric can handle a fast descent," Van der Pol said. But the group was big enough to close the gap when we went down. If we can keep the gap to the finish, we will be strong." He said.

Van der Pol added that few riders were willing to cooperate in the chase group behind Mohoric. Rivals Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) were among those who tried to cooperate.

"Also, we lacked a little cooperation. Pedersen and Van Aert were really trying to close the gap. But that's racing."

"I'm very happy with how I felt and I didn't have any pain in my back.

"I hope so. 'But I'm getting old. So this is another missed opportunity."