Il Lombardia 2024 – Pain For Pidcock, Glory For Pogačar
The 118th edition of Il Lombardia took place on Saturday comprising of a 255km route through some of Italy's most breathtaking scenery and pristine tarmac from Bergamo to Como. The “Ride of the Falling Leaves” is the last “monument” one day race on the calendar and the traditional season finale for the top riders in the peloton, a last chance for riders with weary legs to achieve glory.
There was minor controversy in the lead up to the race with the “deselection” on Friday of Yorkshire's mountain bike Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock. Pidcock was replaced on the start line by Ethan Hayter, despite being considered one of the few outside contenders for the race win. This development is the latest indication of an increasingly fractious relationship between the star rider and his embattled INEOS Grenadiers team management.
However, the only question on race morning was whether anyone could dethrone the Tour de France winner and newly crowned World Champion Tadej Pogačar? The Slovenian was seeking to become only the second rider in history to win four editions of this event in a row, a feat only achieved previously by the fabled Fuasto Coppi, in the post war races between 1946 and 1949.
With the threat of Pogačar looming large in the peloton's mind, an early breakaway of twenty-three riders managed to get up the road, pulling out a gap of over two minutes with around 150km to go. That group contained the strong trio of Damiano Caruso, Matej Mahorič & Antonio Tiberi from the Bahrain Victorious team; their race tactics were clear to see. However, Tiberi couldn't hold the pace and was dropped from the group near the summit of the Valpiana climb.
The chasing peloton was led by Pogačar's team-mates who kept the breakaway in check for a further 60km, limiting them to a lead of under three minutes as they climbed the Madonna del Ghisallo. As the leaders then snaked down towards the town of Bellagio and the Lake Como shores, it had been thinned to just 19 riders and the writing was on the wall. UAE Team Emirates ramped up the pace at the head of the peloton on their leader's behalf and the breakaway started to cannibalise itself, losing what little cooperative cohesion they had. A small group of riders, including Eddie Dunbar of Team Jayco AlUla, tried to push on as they hit the lower slopes of the Colma Di Sormano, the final major climb of the day, but it always looked futile.
As the last remaining riders of the breakaway were consumed by the peloton, the decisive move came when Pogačar launched an explosive attack, jumping from the pack with apparent ease. Only three riders were able to follow, including Remco Evenepoel, the one rider who on his day is capable of matching Pogačar in this format. The Belgian, easily distinguishable riding atop his shining gold bike and sporting a matching gold helmet to denote his status as Olympic Champion, pushed hard, but in an instant, he was over a minute behind. With just over 48km remaining, Pogačar's move would normally be considered a doomed long-range effort in modern cycling, but for this rider it is fast becoming the norm having ridden solo from 100km to go in the World Championships just over a fortnight ago. In that sense he is both the modern scientific rider and a throwback to a bygone age of panache.
Despite his best efforts Evenepoel couldn't make any inroads on the World Champion and looked increasingly irritated on the bike, sniping and snarling at his fellow chasers before going solo himself. By the time Pogačar sped into Como towards the finish line, his lead was over three minutes, more than sufficient time to allow him to dismount as he crossed the line, lifting his bike above his head. Resplendent in his all-white kit with the rainbow bands, this was put the final exclamation point on a season of dominance, the likes of which we have not seen since the days of Eddy Mercx.
Il Lombardia 2024 Race Result:
1) Tadej Pogačar – UAE Team Emirates
2) Remco Evenepoel – Soudal Quickstep
3) Giulio Ciccone – Lidl-Trek
4) Ian Izagirre – Cofidis
5) Enric Mas – Movistar Team
6) Pavel Sivakoc – UAE Team Emirates
7) Lennert Van Eetvelt – Lotto Dstny
8) Neilson Powless – EF Education-EasyPost
9) David Gaudu – Groupama-FDJ
10) Xandro Meurisse – Alpecin-Deceuninck
British Riders Finishing Positions:
33) Ben Swift – INEOS Grenadiers
53) Harrison Wood – Cofidis
57) Connor Swift – INEOS Grenadiers
81) Adam Yates – UAE Team Emirates
84) Simon Yates - Team Jayco AlUla
85) Ben Turner – INEOS Grenadiers
DNF) James Shaw – EF Education-EasyPost
DNF) Ethan Hayter – INEOS Grenadiers