On Saturday Tadej Pogačar won Il Lombardia, the Race of the Falling Leaves, the final Monument and penultimate WorldTour round of the season. The Slovenian joins Alfredo Binda on four Il Lombardia victories, the second most after Fausto Coppi’s five. He bookends his 2024 with Strade Bianche and Il Lombardia titles, and claimed 25 triumphs over the year, including the famous Triple Crown of Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Championship. Michael Woods was the lone Canadian on the start line.
The Course
There were eight climbs across 252 km from Bergamo to Como, four in each half. The second climb, Selvino, replaced Garda, which had been changed out because of rain damage. The famous Madonna del Ghisallo arrived with 80 km to go. Colma di Sormano, the penultimate ascent, was a fine place to attack. The final climb, San Fermo della Battaglia, was 2.8 km of 6.6 percent and peaked 4 km before the finish line, also changed because of Lake Como flooding.
🏁 RACE DETAILS ⤵️
🇮🇹 Il Lombardia
⏰ 10.35 CEST
↔️ 255km
#️⃣ #IlLombardia pic.twitter.com/nguBPb9uTW— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) October 12, 2024
Saturday’s breakaway was large; after two groups converged 21 riders were at the front, and with 100 km and four climbs remaining, their lead was 4:45. UAE-Emirates had been powering the peloton for dozens of kilometers, and on Sella di Osigo, it really started to turn the screws. Sella di Osigo led directly to Madonna del Ghisallo. The gap to the fugitives was under 2:00 by its peak.
Colma di Sormano was 13 km of 6.5 percent and its descent was hairy. The escape’s lead was 1:05 when it kicked up.
Peloton will soon start the hardest climb of this #ILombardia: Colma di Sormano (12.9km, 6.4%).
We could be in for some proper fireworks there. pic.twitter.com/R836TSWwgw
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) October 12, 2024
With the breakaway shattered, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s fugitive Xandro Meurisse lit out solo. Remco Evenepoel stayed on Pogačar’s wheel. Pavel Sivakov was the world champion’s last worker. Woods was no longer in the 20-strong peloton with 49 km to race. The breakaway was over a kilometer later and the Slovenian immediately attacked.
Evenepoel, Enric Mas and Lennert Van Eetvelt comprised the closest chase, but they were 1:07 in arrears by the crest. Evenepoel dropped the others on the descent. Sivakov worked to reach Mas and…
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