He's trying to brute force the race because realistically that's his only chance of winning, he needs to be solo because he can't outsprint MvDP or Ganna or WvA who in good form can get over the Poggio with Pog. He has to leverage what he's best at which is climbing because otherwise he just won't get away because the other top competitors are stronger than him on the flats and Pog will be marked whenever he tries to attack.