Cyclists gathered in Bergamo in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 12, for the start of Il Lombardia 2024, which is the fifth grand classic of the season and commonly known as the race that marks the conclusion of the professional road cycling season. 

The route of 2024 Il Lombardia started in Bergamo, northeast of Milano in Lombardy. The race would take the riders to Como on a 255-kilometer route, which included eight categorized climbs.

The weather conditions for this year’s Giro di Lombardia were overcast and windy. Leaves were falling from the trees in various beautiful Fall colors with temperatures about sixteen degrees Celsius.

The main favorite to claim the victory in this year’s Il Lombardia was recently crowned World Champion Tadej Pogacar. Despite a long, challenging and successful season, the Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates was still showing great form and had won Giro dell’Emilia last Saturday following a thirty-eight-kilometer solo attack. Pogacar was said to have been practicing lead-out attacks with teammates on the Colma di Sormano climb earlier in the week.

Other favorites to take the victory in this year’s Giro di Lombardia included Soudal-QuickStep’s Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (riding his stunning Golden Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 bike), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Enric Mas (Movistar), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). Adam Yates and Marc Hirschi were strong lieutenants for team leader Pogacar, who would be able to step up to the challenge if Pogacar should falter in today’s race.

The Ineos-Grenadiers team had surprisingly excluded Thomas Pidcock from its race line-up shortly before the start, which had been a significant disappointment for the rider from Grand Britian who had shown strong form in recent days by finishing second in Giro dell’Emilia and fifteenth in Gran Piemonte. Pidcock is rumored to be negotiating with team Q36.5 about signing a contract with the team for the 2025 season after Ineos-Grenadiers team management has been disappointed with Pidcock’s result in Grand Tours.

Il Lombardia 2024 got off to a fast start and multiple breakaway attempts were launched in the first kilometers. Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Giulio Masotto (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini), and Connor Swift (Ineos-Grenadiers) formed the first breakaway group of the day. But the speed in the peloton was intense and several teams were looking to engage in breakaway efforts.

Riders passed through beautiful terrain, including the shores of Lago di Endine. Meanwhile, the sun had also turned up as a spectator, which would warm the riders and invigorate them in the chilly Fall weather conditions of the Italian mountains.

With 215 kilometers remaining, riders were still launching attacks from the main peloton, hoping to form a viable breakaway and escape from the main peloton, which was riding at fast speed.

The race still hadn’t settled fifty kilometers after the start. 205 kilometers remained, and riders such as Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Christian Scaroni (Astana), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Fausto Masnada (Soudal-QuickStep), and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula) had a few seconds advantage over the chasing peloton. The riders were now climbing the Selvino.

Riders from UAE Team Emirates were controlling the front of the main peloton when three kilometers of the remarkable Selvino climb remained. Meanwhile, approximately fourteen riders were having a blast further up the road, while fighting hard to expand their lead to more than forty seconds.

Noteworthy riders were joining the early attacks, and it was evident several teams were revising their race tactics and strategies, because they were realizing they would be handing the race victory to Tadej “The Cannibal” Pogacar if they waited too long with their attacks. Riders such as Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Ineos-Grenadiers), and Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) had now joined the breakaways, while UAE Team Emirates were controlling the action at the front of the main peloton.

Twenty-three riders formed a strong front group with 160 kilometers of the 2024 Il Lombardia race remaining. At this point in the race, the riders had an advantage of almost two minutes over the main peloton, which was still spearheaded by riders from UAE Team Emirates. 

Riders were now facing the challenging Valpiana climb. The climb didn’t cause any significant shake ups, apart from Antonio Tiberi being dropped because of digestive problems. Tiberi was seen drinking small cans of Coca-Cola while hoping to refuel and recover. 

Twenty-one riders remained in front with an advantage of 02:43 minutes following the climb. The riders were now on the longest flat stretch of the race.

The cyclists passed through the historic town of Caprino Bergamasco, which was an important communication link between the cities of Bergamo and Como in Roman times. The town flourished because of the important trade and communication routes, but was later negatively influenced by barbarian hordes, which brought terror to the area, until things settled after the Holy Roman Empire was established. It was yet to be seen if Tadej “The Canibal” Pogacar would use his bike to deliver a barbaric attack on his competitors in today’s Il Lombardia race.  

Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates chain gang was leading the chase at the front of the main peloton, closely tailed by riders from Team Movistar with 110 kilometers remaining. Twenty-one riders were still in front with an advantage of 03:36 minutes at this point. The race had reached Lago di Garlate, but the riders had little time to enjoy the stunning views across and around the lake.

The time advantage of the breakaway group had increased to 04:30 minutes on the Stella di Osigo climb with 93.5 kilometers of the race remaining.

Rafal Majka moved to the front of the main peloton in support of team captain Pogacar and started grinding seconds off the advantage of the breakaway optimists. With 83 kilometers remaining, the main peloton was 03:14 minutes behind the front men.

Pogacar’s lieutenant Mark Hirschi took over from Majka with 77 kilometers remaining. The riders were approaching the descent, which would lead into the Colma di Sormano climb, where Pogacar was rumored to be planning an attack. Nineteen breakaway optimists remained in front.

Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) briefly tried his luck from the front group with 67 kilometers remaining. But his attack failed.

Molard attacked again from the front group early on the Colma di Sormano climb and was joined by teammate Remi Rochas and Eddie Dunbar of Jayco-Alula. Xandro Meurisse took over in front. Meanwhile, Adam Yates was pulling in the main peloton for race favorite and World Champion Tadej Pogacar. Mohoric was reeled in by the peloton, which was now one minute behind the twelve men in the breakaway group.

With seven kilometers remaining of the Colma di Sormano climb only a few men remained in front as all other attackers had been reeled in because of the strong pace set by UAE Team Emirates in the peloton.

Tadej Pogacar attacked shortly thereafter, and no other rider appeared able to follow the World Champion who was now solo in front. Enric Mas (Movistar) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) were fighting hard to bridge the gap. Lennert Eetvelt joined the chase group later. 

With 46 kilometers of this year’s Il Lombardia remaining, Pogacar was still solo in front, with Van Eetvelt, Mas, and Evenepoel chasing 35 seconds behind. Other chasers were further behind, and they included Pavel Sivakov, Giulio Ciccone, Michael Storer, David Gaudu, Giulio Pellizzari, Bauke Mollema, Thymen Arensman, and Ion Izagirre, but they were all more than a minute behind Slovenian Pogacar.

Pogacar was the first rider to reach the peak of the Colma di Sormano climb. A long and dangerous descent now awaited the rider – and not least chasers Van Eetvelt, Mas and Evenepoel who all needed to gain time on the race leader as Pogacar’s advantage had increased to more than a minute. Would they be taking chances on the downward slope?

Pogacar was still solo on the descent with 36 kilometers remaining. At this point Evenepoel was chasing solo, but he was more than one minute behind. Van Eetvelt and Mas were almost two minutes back. Sivakov was chasing solo 02:30 minutes behind Pogacar.

Pogacar remained solo in front when the ten-kilometer mark was reached. The World Champion still looked strong on his white Colnago bike and baring any misfortune would take the victory in the final Classic of the 2024 season. Evenepoel was chasing solo 02:30 minutes behind and it appeared the Olympic Champion had been beaten again. What a disappointment for the 24-year-old Belgian star rider.

Pogacar virtually catapulted himself over the San Fermo climb in powerful fashion and appeared unstoppable. Not even a 255-kilomter race could deplete his energy stores. While Evenepoel was still chasing solo, Sivakov had caught Van Eetvelt and Enric Mas. The riders in the trio were now fighting for the final podium spot.

Pogacar descended to beautiful Lake Como, before entering the final stretch on the streets of Como. Meanwhile, Giulio Ciccone had caught chase group two and immediately attacked in an attempt of taking the third spot behind Pogacar and Evenepoel.

Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line in Como in solo fashion in 06:04:58 as winner of Il Lombardia 2024. What an impressive victory and performance by the Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates. Pogacar stopped after the finish line and proudly and gratefully lifted his beautiful white Colnago bike above his head.

Remco Evenepoel was the next rider to reach the finish line in Como, 03:36 minutes behind the race winner.

Further behind Giulio Ciccone was still solo, now chased by Enric Mas, Lennert van Eetvelt, Ion Izagirre, and Pavel Sivakov. The fight for third place was tough, but Ciccone proved the strongest man on the day.

“The team worked so hard for all victories we’ve achieved this season. I think we did a good job and I’m super happy to win with the team today,” race winner Pogacar told Roadcycling.com shortly after crossing the finish line. 

“We planned for the race to develop as it did. The last forty kilometers were expected to be mano-a-mano and I knew I would be able to stay ahead if I was first across the top of the Solmano climb.” 

“I tried to push as hard as possible all the way to the finish line. I enjoyed the crowds and am now looking very much forward to the off season,” Pogacar told Roadcycling.com.

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