Tadej Pogachar will be Wout Van Aert's toughest rival in Saturday's Milan-San Remo, but the Slovenian could also be a useful ally under the right circumstances. The longest day of cycling is thus a complicated one.

Van Aert pushed the Frenchman out of the way on the Via Roma two years ago after he had chased off the pure sprinters to match Julien Alaphilippe's sharp acceleration on the Poggio.

Pogachar has been remarkable early in the season and heads into this Milan-San Remo race with big ambitions.

"He is a stage race rider and wants a tough race. He will probably be more interested than usual in demanding a high tempo and attacking early on. With his condition, it will definitely affect how the race unfolds," Van Aert told Sporza on Friday.

"In a way, we are on the same side. I prefer to race hard too. So we don't have to adjust too much, but he's the type of rider we have to keep an eye on. If he's a pure sprinter, you can't expect him to attack in Poggio.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Pogachar seemed open to launching an attack from as far away as Chipressa. 'If we have the ability, we can clear it. In the last few years, that has been impossible. But you never know," said the UAE Team Emirates rider.

Van Aat predicted that the intensity at Chipressa might not be affected until the next kick at Poggio.

"It might be possible, but it's hard to force anything there," Van Aart said of Pogachar's onslaught at Chipressa. 'Not a lot seems to happen on the Chipressa, but that climb can be the decisive shape of a race. Without the Chipressa, the Poggio would not be decisive."

Van Aert has been training on the Côte d'Azur for a week since Paris-Nice. The Jumbo-Visma rider won the Montluçon time trial and gave Primoš Roglic the win in a tumultuous final stage. Said Van Aert, who finished third a year ago and sixth in his 2019 debut, "I took it easy this week; I couldn't have done any better in five days."

A cold and flu epidemic in the peloton forced many riders to withdraw from Milan-San Remo. However, Van Aart's Jumbo Visma team, with Primoš Roglic and Christoph Rappold, is well-prepared.

Mads Pedersen, who defeated Van Aert in a strong sprint in Dans-le-Parestel on the third stage from Paris to Nice, has been recruited by Trek-Segafredo to replace Stuyven, and Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix), who suffered a back Van der Pol (Alpecin-Phoenix) will be racing for the first time since a back injury interrupted his cyclo-cross campaign in December.

Van der Pol has not raced on the road since finishing third in Paris-Roubaix last October and has been training in Spain for the past few weeks, but was not expected to return to competition this weekend. Having raced, Van Aert was not surprised to see the Dutchman competing in Milan-San Remo.

"Of course he will only start if he feels ready. But if there is a monument to win without the race distance, it is San Remo. Alpecin Phoenix has apparently changed his mind."