I forget who said it, but there's a saying that goes something along the lines of 'professional cycling is an individual sport, practised in teams'. Only one man or woman can win the race, but they cannot do it without the help of their teammates.
As such, a professional team is made up of different roles. The leaders, of which there is usually just one per team but sometimes two or three, and the support riders, known as domestiques, who come in dozens of different guises.
Some support riders are there simply to fetch the bottles from the team car, others to provide a lead-out for their sprinter, some go off into the breakaway to force other teams to chase, while others are responsible for said chase.
For the latter, the objective is often to simply 'control the race' by sitting on the front of the peloton, dictating its pace to ensure the breakaway's time gap doesn't grow too big. By sitting on the front of the peloton, other riders can hide in their draft, conserving energy for the more decisive points of the race later.
In this category, you'll find Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech), the Swiss 35-year-old and two-time national road race champion, who was recently tasked with this role at Milan-San Remo.
There are usually multiple teams motivated to keep the breakaway in check, so it's not uncommon to see riders from three or four different teams sharing the work in this regard. But to Dillier's surprise, no other team offered their help, meaning he was forced to control the breakaway in the longest race of the season all by himself.
His Strava file shows he spent four and a half hours riding at an average of 340 watts, including a trip back to the team cars on the descent of the Turchino. A power output that most of us can only dream of.
But for Dillier, the task isn't new. He's got plenty of experience as the frontman of the peloton.
"I already did Milan-San Remo a couple of times. Every year, it is basically my task to control the breakaway, and I did it alone last year already. So yeah, I was kind of aware what could happen again last Saturday," the Swiss rider told Cyclingnews.
Although his role is fairly set in stone, it wasn't until the pre-race team meeting on Friday night that Dillier had it confirmed. Unsurprisingly, he didn't lose much sleep, but he was a little unsure whether he had the level of fitness required going into the race.
"If I have to push 350 watts, it's not a big deal if I do it for half an hour, or even an hour, it's quite okay. But doing it for 200 kilometres, the story gets a little bit different.
"I was kind of unsure if my shape is as good as last year to do it again. But yeah, in the end, it turned out ok. I actually did quite a bit more power compared to last year. So my performance in general was much better."
What goes through his head?
Dillier, who estimates his FTP sits around 400-420 watts, confirmed he eats 120 grams of carbs per hour to fuel this role, and that remembering to eat is pretty much the only thing that goes through his mind.
"I try to think about nothing, kind of meditating on the bike. I definitely try to stay positive in my thoughts, but the easiest way do this is just think about nothing.
"I try to break down my whole effort into smaller pieces, I had these 15 minute markers where I would eat something or drink something. And then, yeah, after a couple of these, when you really start to get into your rhythm and flow, 15 minutes actually passes by pretty quickly. "
I jokingly asked if he didn't have a song stuck in his head going round on repeat, which was laughed off with a no, but the opening lyric to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off – Got nothin' in my brain – seems equally apt.
Given the task at hand, knowing the time gap to the breakaway seems important, but rather than get this info from his team via the radio, he prefers to rely on the race motorbikes, who provide the gaps on a board at semi-regular intervals.
Instead, the radio chatter tends to be more logistical info from his team, such as if riders are heading back to the car for bottles or stopping for a toilet break.
During the race, much was said about other teams' refusal to contribute to the chase. Alongside Van der Poel, UAE Team Emirates XRG's Tadej Pogačar was the other hot favourite to win the race, so it was widely assumed one of his teammates would help Dillier.
The fact that they didn't was a surprise to Dillier and his team, but he tries to see the bright side.
"It's surprising, because you have basically one of the biggest favorites of the race, and you're not willing to control, it seems to be a little bit odd. But in the end, we also have one of the big favorites in our team. We have, even with Jasper [Philipsen], another good card to play. So for us, it was no question that we would control the race.
"I actually get a lot of positive feedback about my ride, which I guess I would not get if I would have shared the work. But then, if I would have somebody to help me on this task, I could maybe go longer.
"We would also control it differently, we would maybe give the breakaway more time."
Overall, despite the obvious disappointment that Van der Poel was unable to win the race for a third time, following his crash, Dillier doesn't feel an extra layer of disappointment having put in such a shift. In fact, he looks at it from an opposing perspective, allowing the pride of a good personal performance to soften the blow.
And he firmly believes that without the crash, Alpecin would have taken its fourth Milan-San Remo on the bounce.
"My belief, I think without the crash, without the problem of his hand, he would still be able to win it. Win it a third time himself and a fourth in a row for the team."
Dillier has already flown to Belgium ahead of a Classics block, starting this Friday at E3 Saxo Classic. He is quick to reassure that despite the hand injury, Van der Poel will lead the team.
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