Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) capped off a spectacular season with another solo triumph to claim a record-tying fifth victory at Il Lombardia – equalling the record of five wins by Fausto Coppi.
No rival could respond to the world champion’s searing attack on the steeper slopes of the decisive final climb, the Passo di Ganda, and he went on to race the last 36km uncontested, crossing the line line with roaring crowds to once again add his name to cycling’s history books becoming the only rider win Il Lombardia five times in a row and to win twice the world title and the final Italian Monument in the same season.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) could not follow Pogačar’s winning move on the Ganda and found himself in the familiar position of chasing his rival alone, finishing second place for the third time in a row after the World Championships in Rwanda and the European Championships in France.
Asked if his history-making accomplishments made him feel unique, Pogačar said: “No. Everyone can feel unique, and everyone is on their own, but to win five times in a row, every time I start it feels like this course, this race is really suited to me.
How it unfolded
The peloton lined up to beautiful sunshine and cooler morning autumn temperatures in Como for the final Monument of the season, largely known as the Race of the Falling Leaves.
The 241km course routed through the narrow and winding roads of northern Italy, covering the Madonna del Ghisallo (8.8km at 3.9%), San Gottardo (2.7km at 6.5%), Roncola (7.5km at 7.4%), Berbenno (6.9km at 4.9%), Passo della Crocetta (11.7km at 5.8%), Zamla Alta (9.8km at 3.3% with steeper pitches at the top), Passo di Ganada (10km at 7.1%) before the final short climb over Colle Aperto (1.3km at 7.4%) and a descent into the finish line in Bergamo.
The outright favourite, world champion Tadej Pogačar, lined up as the four-time defending champion, aiming for a fifth Il Lombardia victory and tenth career Monument win, with rival Remco Evenepoel looking to improve on his second place last year, and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) wanting to capitalize on strong end-of-season form.
An early breakaway settled into a rhythm that included Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Filippo Ganna, Lucas Hamilton and Victor Langellotti (all Ineos Grenadiers), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Walter Calzoni (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep), Asbjørn Hellemose and Michael Matthews (both Jayco AlUla), Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta) and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were managing the gap at roughly 2:30 minutes over the Madonna del Ghisallo.
Pidcock crashed with 197km remaining through a tight bend on a short descent, but he was back on his bike and quickly rejoined the peloton. Unfortunately, his bad luck continued with a mechanical 10km later, while he was caught behind a split in the main field. He relied heavily on the work of his three teammates to close the gap between the two groups with 170km remaining.
The breakaway managed to extend its lead to nearly three minutes, just ahead of the Roncola. As UAE Team Emirates-XRG led the field onto the lower slopes, they lost time over the top, and riders – Guernalec and Hellemose first, and later Hamilton and Glivar – reducing the breakaway to 10.
Pogačar’s teammates set a quick pace on the tricky descents, forcing splits among the peloton to open up, making it even more critical for the favourites to stay positioned close to the front at the halfway point of the race.
Up ahead, Bilbao, Ganna, Langellotti, Simmons, Calzoni, Vervaeke, Matthews, Koerdt, Bais and Lemmen held a gap that fluctuated between two and three minutes on the approach to the Passo della Crocetta, the longest climb of the day at 11km and the start of the challenging succession of ascents to come.
Quinn Simmons attacked several times out of the breakaway, gaining several seconds midway up the Corcetta with Bilbao, Ganna, Vervaeke and Matthews chasing, while the remaining riders in the break struggled to maintain contact and were eventually caught by the chasing field.
The US road champion pushed his lead out to over a minute on the four chasers, and nearly four minutes on the reduced peloton, over the top of the Crocetta and into the lower slopes of the penultimate climb of the Zambia Alta.
Although he initially held his lead at two minutes on the descent and the flatter valley roads, it was not surprise to see the gap drop on the roads to the centrepiece final climb of the day, the Passo di Ganda.
Passo di Ganda
Simmons entered the narrow road leading into the Passo di Ganda, a four-star 10km climb with an average gradient of 7.1% but with pitches as steep as 15%.
With the chase group back in the fold, UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Isaac del Toro and Jay Vine led the peloton onto the climb, Pogačar on their wheel, and Evenepoel close behind.
The peloton thinned out quickly, and the favourites remained attentive to any threatening attacks among the selection that also included Pidcock, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Storer and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Vine and Del Toro’s efforts caused the selection to whittle down even further, leading to Pogačar’s searing attack halfway up the climb, with 36km to go.
The world champion quickly built his lead to nearly a minute as Evenepoel, Seixas and Storer were unable to respond, the three riders settling into a chase, and Del Toro sitting on their wheels.
With Simmons within his sights, Pogačar caught and passed the Lidl-Trek rider with 3km to the top of the ascent.
Thick crowds lined the upper slopes of the Ganda, many having waited for much of the day to catch a glimpse of Pogačar racing solo along the steeper slopes before cresting over the top and descending towards Bergamo.
Not giving up, Evenepoel distanced his rivals, Seixas and then Del Toro, while Storer hung on by a thread. The pair caught Simmons, and although he managed to stay with them for a few kilometres, he was eventually dispatched as Evenepoel and Storer continued just over a minute behind Pogačar.
Evenepoel eventually distanced Storer, too, and chased all the way to the final kilometres. He stopped briefly behind a stalled lead motorbike on the last pitch of the Colle Aperto and then crossed the line 1:48 after Pogačar for second place. Storer finishing in third place 3:14 back, and Simmons remarkably hanging on to finish fourth at 3:39 back.
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