Tadej Pogačar stormed to a historic fourth consecutive victory at Il Lombardia after launching an unanswerable attack on the slopes of the Colma di Sormano climb.
Pogačar rode solo for 48 kilometres to the finish line in Como to take his 25th individual victory of the season. The win also saw the Slovenian equal Fausto Coppi’s record of four straight Lombardia victories and capped a remarkable year in which he recently won the road world title in Zurich.
As well as his Giro d’Italia and Tour de France titles, Lombardia marked his second Monument victory of the season after he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in April.
After Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov reeled in the remnants of the day’s breakaway on the Sormano, a big attack from Pogačar felt imminent. It came almost instantly after Sivakov caught the last man standing, Thymen Arensman, and was simply unanswerable.
Remco Evenepoel, Enric Mas of Movistar and Lotto Dstny’s Lennert van Eetvelt attempted to follow, but the trio struggled to work cohesively together as they attempted to pursue the man in the rainbow jersey. Olympic champion Evenepoel dropped Mas and Van Eetvelt at the summit of the Sormano but was unable to bridge across to the rampaging Pogačar.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) eventually got across to the front group in the closing stages before quickly distancing them to take third. Evenepoel held on for a valiant second place, although the World Champion’s dominance meant that he finished more than three minutes ahead of the double Olympic champion.
As he rode into the final few kilometres, a smile began to appear on Pogačar’s face as he knew that yet another victory was in the bag. He cruised under the one kilometre to go banner and soaked up the moment as he crossed the finish line with his arms aloft.
The Triple Crown winner then climbed from his Colnago bike before raising it to the skies in celebration to round off a remarkable season.
How it happened
The final Monument of the year kicked off with drama when Tom Pidcock revealed that he had been "deselected" from the Ineos Grenadiers lineup on the eve of the race. The British star was previously expected to lead the team in Italy.
Once the race got underway a large breakaway of 21 riders got up the road and gradually established a lead of around four and a half minutes. Matej Mohorič and Damiano Caruso were present in the move for Bahrain Victorious. Other big names included Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Daniel Martínez of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
With 84 kilometres to go the lead group were onto the slopes of the Madonna di Ghisallo climb. The pace was gradually beginning to ramp up in the peloton behind them with UAE Team Emirates lined out at the head of the bunch. Tadej Pogačar was well placed alongside his teammate Rafal Majka as the UAE train gradually cut into the breakaways advantage. The leader’s gap had been cut by a minute as the peloton began to ascend the Ghisallo.
The intense pace set by Adam Yates, Majka and Marc Hirschi on the climb meant that the breakaway’s lead was reduced to under two minutes as the riders began the descent and headed towards the Colma di Sormano. Mohorič was leading the charge amongst the front group, ensuring the pace remained high and the peloton were kept at bay for as long as possible.
The lead group's advantage stood at just one minute as the Sormano began with 54 kilometres to the finish. Meanwhile back down the road it was over to Yates and Pavel Sivakov for UAE. Pogačar sat ominously in third wheel as Yates went to work and began to shred the time gap to the front of the race. Sivakov soon took over as the peloton snaked through Sormano's series of hairpins and cut the gap to 30 seconds.
Sivakov soon swallowed up the remnants of the break. Just as the peloton made contact with the last men standing, Arensman and Xandro Meurisse of Alpecin-Deceuninck, it was over to Pogačar and he attacked instantly. A trademark explosive acceleration saw him quickly open up a gap over Remco Evenepoel, Movistar’s Enric Mas and Lennert van Eeetvelt of Lotto Dstny, the only riders capable of even attempting to follow.
The Slovenian had more than a minute on the Evenepoel group as he crested the Sormano and tore into the descent. An acceleration from Evenepoel meant that he could begin the technical downhill with a gap on Mas and Van Eetvelt. Sivakov was the next man on the road.
Pogačar’s onslaught continued and he soon had two and a half minutes on Evenepoel which only continued to increase. Evenepoel fought courageously as he attempted to get back on terms with the Slovenian but his efforts were not enough to catch the flying World Champion.
Pogačar began to sit up as the final kilometres ticked by as he began to realise the win was his. A late move from Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) saw the Italian bridge across to Mas, Van Eetvelt and Sivakov. Ciccone then tore past them to take third as Evenepoel held on for second behind the race winner.
Results
Il Lombardia 2024: Bergamo > Como (255 km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 06:04:58
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, + 03:16
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, + 04:31
4. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Cofidis, + 04:34
5. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar,
6. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Team Emirates,
7. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, all at same time
8. Neilson Powless (Usa) EF Education-EasyPost, + 04:58
9. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ,
10. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, all at same time
