World champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) capped off perhaps the greatest cycling season of all time with a fourth Il Lombardia title in a row, producing a stunning 48.4km solo effort to add a second Monument to his Giro, Tour and Worlds triumphs in 2024.
Resplendent in the rainbow jersey, the Slovenian was led perfectly by his UAE Emirates teammates to the key Colma di Sormano climb after they reeled in a strong 23-man breakaway, before exploding out of last man Pavel Sivakov's wheel and riding solo to the line.
Such was Pogačar's dominance that his eventual winning margin from Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in second was 3:15, the biggest since Eddy Merckx, the man to whom he is so often compared, soloed to Il Lombardia victory in 1971 also in Como and also in the world champion's jersey.
Evenepoel and Enric Mas (Movistar) were the next best on the Sormano climb but even they could not mount a response to Pogačar's initial attack, with Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) eventually bridging across to fight out the podium spots.
The Olympic champion Evenepoel went solo on the descent of the Sormano after failing to cooperate with his compatriot and Mas, however, he made little impression on Pogačar's rapidly built lead despite riding alone to second. It was an emotional podium for Evenepoel after returning to Como for the first time since his horror crash at the 2020 Lombardia.
There was joy for the Italians on home ground as Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) eventually took third after chasing down the three-man group containing Van Eetvelt, Mas and Sivakov in the final 3km and stealing a march on them once they reached Como.
With this victory, Pogačar's 25th in 2024, he became only the second rider to win four Il Lombardias in a row after the great Fausto Coppi 75 years ago. He also equalled Alfredo Binda's total of four wins in Lombardia, the second most behind only Coppi on five, and now holds the same amount of Monuments of fellow Italian great Gino Bartali, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara on seven.
"Every victory is special, and today also, because the team worked so hard all year for all the victories that we achieved, and today is no different. It was a big day for us; a long race, a hard race, and it was all dependent on our team. We did a good job and I'm super happy to win with the team," said Pogačar in his post-race interview, confirming that the Sormano launch was, of course, the plan.
"We planned this because the race is so hard that in the end, the last 40km is more or less man-to-man, and I knew that if I had a decent gap at the top, I could manage to come to the finish. You never know if it happens, or not."
Despite managing another history-making ride, Pogačar was more focused on the task at hand and the roaring crowds that welcomed him throughout the 255km route, not the place he holds among cycling's all-time greats.
"Let's see where we will be after the career," he said when asked if he could now think about history with his stunning 2024 season coming to an end. "I was enjoying the crowds. I'm looking forward to the off-season."
How it unfolded
Beautiful golden skies welcomed the riders in Bergamo as they set off for the 118th edition of Il Lombardia with a slightly changed 255km route, due to flooding, awaiting them.
The start was active right from the flag drop, with several of the 25 teams trying to get someone into the day's break. The first of which was a three-man move of Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Giulio Masotto (Corratec-Vini Fantini) but they were quickly caught midway up the first climb to Forcellino di Bianzano.
With the 11.4km Selvino climb approaching, the next wave of attacks came and with 200km to go, a front group of Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matej Mohorič, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Martijn Tusveld (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Matteo Fabro (Polti Kometa), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) Harold López (Astana Qazaqstan) and Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had formed.
Tiberi was a late addition after bridging across and immediately came to the front with Mohorič to try and get away from the UAE Emirates-led peloton behind who sat just 34 seconds down.
Bastein Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) made the jump to try and come across which looked futile until he was joined by another big group on the descent of the Selvino, Rivera being the first after getting dropped and trying again alongside teammate Thymen Arensman, Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
With 170km to go, the racing in front came together and a lead group of 23 had formed and built an advantage of 2:23, with Bahrain best represented by three riders and all of Visma, DSM, Ineos, FDJ, Alpecin and Movistar having two riders in front.
As the racing headed northwest away from Bergamo and into a 60km section without any climbing, UAE allowed the break's lead to grow upwards of 4:30 with Finn Fisher-Black and Jan Christen doing much of the work in the early phase.
At the foot of the next ascent to Sella di Osigo and run up to the fabled Madonna del Ghisallo climb, UAE re-established full control through Christen and Majka who began to make serious inroads into the deficit as racing entered the final 90km.
By the time the peloton had reached the historic chapel, Pogačar's ever-reliable domestique Majka had reduced the gap back down to 2:30 and the break had begun to lose members as the struggle set in fully.
The key climb to Colma di Sormano (12.9km at 6.4%) was talked about a lot before the race as the expected launch pad for the world champion, and his team showed all the signs of confirming this with Adam Yates taking over for UAE at the foot with only 1:02 to get back after the escapees faded.
Molard and Meurisse tried moves with little chance of a result still possible, with the Belgian and Arensman being the last survivors of the original 23-man group. However, the blast off from Pogačar was imminent as Yates pulled off and left only Sivakov in front of the rainbow bands, with Olympic champion Evenepoel locked into his wheel ready for the surge.
Pogačar made his move 48.4km from the line, exploding out of Sivakov's wheel without response and quickly finding himself alone with just 6.3km of the climb to navigate and the descent into Como.
Evenepoel and Mas were the next best as the peloton completely splintered under the Slovenian's pressure, with Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) bridging across on his own. As the gap extended past the minute mark and Evenepoel's frustration building, he set off on his own down the Sormano descent.
He rode well solo behind the eventual race winner, however, only lost more time on the mainly flat run-in, with Mas and Van Eetvelt eventually being joined by Sivakov behind after failing to cooperate well.
Pogačar navigated the descents and reached the final small climb, San Fermo, with a 2:23 lead on Evenepoel and 4:20 to the three-man chasing group containing his teammate.
This climb is where the third chase group came back after a long while off the back, with Lidl-Trek working well for Ciccone to bridge across solo. The Italian then brought joy to the home nation as he attacked almost instantly and rode home to cross the line third after Evenepoel and Pogačar.
Pogačar held his bike aloft in celebration with rainbows all over his kit and equipment, closing out his and the European racing season with a bang.
Results
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