Welcome to Escape Collective. Please select your language.
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.
Another edition of Il Lombardia, another victory for Tadej Pogačar. The season’s final Monument was raced in northern Italy on Saturday and as many people predicted, the Slovenian attacked solo from a long way out and won with minutes to spare.
You can find a breakdown of the race and the moments that matter in Kit Nicholson’s report here at Escape, but for a different perspective on the race, scroll on down the page for a photo gallery from the 118th edition of “The Race of the Fallen Leaves”, courtesy of the always-impressive Kristof Ramon.
Sure, the race might have gone the way we expected, but as Kristof shows us here, Lombardia offers some of the best backdrops for bike racing you’ll find anywhere in the world.
We begin our journey in the Jayco AlUla hotel the day before the race, where team physiotherapist Dan Guillemette is getting to work on Chris Juul-Jensen. It looks like the Danish rider is having a great time.Outside, sports director Vittorio Algeri is getting the team cars ready.Race day starts early for the mechanics …… and the soigneurs who are hard at work prepping for a long day.Later, at the start, the riders roll to sign on. Here’s the Golden Boy himself, dual Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel.And here’s His Royal Tuftiness, Tadej Pogačar – the big pre-race favourite and winner of the past three editions of Il Lombardia.The peloton rolls out of Bergamo …… and winds through the hills of northern Italy, passing one of the many stunning lakes in the region.An early breakaway gets up the road …… trying to put themselves in a winning position for later in the day.Meanwhile, Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates teammates patrol the front of the peloton, keeping the break within striking distance.Speaking of the world champion, he’s opted for an all-white-with-rainbows ensemble today. A+Meanwhile, Evenepoel is not leaving any doubt about who is the current Olympic champion. Also A+There’s plenty of climbing to contend with at Il Lombardia – more than 4,700 vertical metres in this year’s edition.As the race goes on, more of Tadej’s tufts emerge.Dani Martínez drives the break through a tunnel.Lake Como …… truly one of cycling’s most incredible backdrops. Just look at this place.Riders summit the Madonna del Ghisallo climb – the most famous ascent in Il Lombardia and the third-to-last recognised climb in this year’s edition.On the next climb, the Colma di Sormano, Pogačar attacks alone, 48 km from the finish.It’s become a very common sight this season: Pogačar attacking from a long way out …… and spending a good chunk of the race off the front, with only the TV motos and other race vehicles for company.Evenepoel was part of a chase group that formed behind Pogačar, before going it alone.It isn’t close by the time Pogačar reaches the finish in Como. In his fourth-straight victory, the Slovenian has put 3:16 into his closest rival (Evenepoel) – easily his biggest winning margin at Il Lombardia so far.Pogačar started his season with a long-range solo victory at an Italian one-day race (Strade Bianche, 81.1 km solo). His win at Il Lombardia bookends his year nicely.Evenepoel explains that second place feels “a bit like a personal victory”. It’s his best result since that horror crash in 2020 where he fell off a bridge and into a ravine.While Pogačar makes winning races look easy, let’s not forget that even just finishing a Monument is hard.The 2024 Il Lombardia is the final race in the career of Domenico Pozzovivo. The Italian retires on home soil at the age of 41, having raced as a professional for 20 seasons.Second for Evenepoel (who’s looking at Pogačar with a kind of resigned admiration), and third for Giulio Ciccone who’s had a bunch of good results this year without a win.What will two-time Il Lombardia winner Vincenzo Nibali (left, in tan chinos) do? Will he leave the local dignitary hanging?With his fourth-straight Il Lombardia win, Pogačar has now amassed 25 victories for the year – the most of any male rider this century – including two Grand Tours, a world title, 12 Grand Tour stages, and two Monuments. Pretty good year that.
