It was the glorious finish that Michael Matthews had long dreamed of, him powering down the Via Roma at the head of the sprint pack and outsprinting them all in one of cycling's greatest races, cheered on by thousands.

Er, just one problem...

A trio of of the world's greatest riders, headed by Mathieu van der Poel, had already got there 43 seconds before him.

So once again, Matthews, one of Australia's finest ever road cyclists, was left on Saturday to sigh 'so near, yet so far' as his much-vaunted 12th quest to win the Milan-Sanremo 'Monument' one-day classic ended in familiar exhausting anti-climax.

"I think the sprint was good," sighed the 34-year-old, whose relationship with the great Italian race was aptly described this week as a 'tortured romance'.

"But, unfortunately, it was for fourth, not first."

Matthews just adores and obsesses about this race, one of cycling's five top one-day classics. In those 12 races, he's been top-10 seven times, top-four five times and on the podium three times.

Last year was the cruellest of all. Leading the sprint 25m from the line, his racing glasses fell off, he lost a split-second of concentration and was pipped by less than a wheel by Belgian Jasper Philipsen.

So the Monaco-based rider with Aussie team Jayco Al-Ula got even more obsessed, doing a recon of the finish about 30 times over the winter.

This time, the dream evaporated for Matthews before the finale, as his great pal, world champ Tadej Pogacar made a late break on the Cipressa climb that only van der Poel and Italian Filippo Ganna could live with.

"Yeah, I think we expected what he (Pogacar) did today," sighed Matthews afterwards. "But knowing it and following him are two different things!"

Admitting that his legs "were quite lactated all day" and that he was struggling in the cold, he couldn't match that power.

Yet, knowing every inch of that finish, he was still favourite to win the following bunch sprint, and did so brilliantly, edging another Australian, Kaden Groves, for fourth.

Groves was left celebrating as it was his Alpecin-Deceuninck leader, van der Poel, who' had outsprinted Ganna and Pogacar up ahead to win the 116th edition, one of the best in Milan-Sanremo annals.

"Mathieu's an incredible leader and a worthy winner. A guy like this wins big," said Groves, who was making his Milan-Sanremo debut.

"I was happy with my result, and the most important thing was the team won."

As for Matthews, the jewellery-lover known throughout Aussie cycling as 'Bling', he'd shone again but ended up having to settle for a consolation hug from his daughter Lila.

"She's got her daddy home fit and healthy, that's the main thing," he smiled, knowing there was always next year.

MICHAEL MATTHEWS' PAINFUL MILAN-SANREMO QUEST

2011: 107th

2014: 78th

2015: 3rd

2016: 59th

2017: 12th

2018: 7th

2019: 12th

2020: 3rd

2021: 6th

2022: 4th

2024: 2nd

2025: 4th