Tadej Pogacar Caps Super Season with Easy Solo Win at Giro di Lombardia

The Tour of Lombardy produced the expected winner: Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian rider broke away from the favorites group on the Passo di Ganda, caught early escapee Quinn Simmons, and crossed the finish line victorious after a 34-kilometer solo effort. Remco Evenepoel finished second.

The route of the Tour of Lombardy this year was the same as two years ago. That meant starting in Como, finishing in Bergamo, and a finale featuring the Passo della Crocetta (11.7 km at 5.8%), Passo di Ganda (9.2 km at 7.3%), and Colle Aperto (1.3 km at 7.4%). From the top of that last punishing climb, there were still three kilometers to the finish, but it was expected that top favorite Tadej Pogacar would unleash his attack earlier.

Lemmen and Vervaeke in the breakaway
Early in the race, a breakaway formed consisting of twelve riders. Among them were Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), and Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike). The other attackers included Gal Glivar (Alpecin - Deceuninck), Walter Calzoni (Q36.5), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Bjoern Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Lucas Hamilton and Victor Langellotti (both INEOS Grenadiers).

The twelve escapees gained a lead of about three minutes. With that advantage, they passed the mythical Madonna del Ghisallo, which this year came early in the race and was climbed from the easier side. The riders did take the more challenging descent, where Tom Pidcock crashed in the peloton. However, the Brit was able to continue and quickly rejoined the peloton.

Lemmen in the breakaway group - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos[/caption]

Meanwhile, UAE Emirates XRG received help from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe to control the escape. Once on the Roncola (9.4 km at 6.6%), with just over 140 kilometers to go, Pogacar's team took the initiative again. The pace increased and the group thinned out. Also on the Berbenno (6.9 km at 4.9%) and afterwards, the world champion’s team kept up the pressure, but at this stage they allowed the breakaway a bit more room again. The escapees began the climb of the Crocetta with a three-minute lead.

Pogacar attacks on Passo di Ganda
On the Crocetta, Simmons broke away from his fellow escapees, and several big names in the peloton had to drop back. Among them were Thymen Arensman, Ben Healy, and the previously fallen Jai Hindley. Meanwhile, Simmons continued his solo. He also crested the Zambla Alta (9.8 km at 3.3%) with a lead and then headed towards the Passo di Ganda. It was expected that the race would really ignite here.

And it did. UAE Emirates XRG increased the tempo from the base of the climb. First with the departing Rafal Majka, then with Jay Vine. The latter rode so hard that only Pogacar, Isaac Del Toro, Remco Evenepoel, Michael Storer, and Paul Seixas could keep up. When Vine dropped back about six kilometers from the summit, it was up to Pogacar himself. The world champion accelerated and nobody could respond. Evenepoel didn't react either. For Pogacar, it was now just a matter of catching Simmons.

No one in sight - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos[/caption]

At 3.1 kilometers from the summit, the Slovenian caught the American; by 2.8 kilometers from the top, he had dropped him. Pogi powered on and already had more than a minute over the first chasers atop the Ganda. Those were Simmons, Storer, and Evenepoel, who led the chase and had dropped Seixas and Del Toro. Once at the summit, the Belgian kept up the pressure. Just before the descent, Simmons had to let go, and on the descent, Storer also lost contact. Evenepoel was clearly the best of the rest.

Getting back to Pogacar was no longer possible. The Slovenian soloed sovereignly to victory. He extended his lead over Evenepoel towards the finish, although part of that was because the Belgian got briefly held up by motorbikes on the Colle Aperto. Evenepoel finished nearly two minutes behind Pogacar, who won the Tour of Lombardy for the fifth consecutive time. With his fifth victory, he equaled the record of Fausto Coppi. The Italian cycling legend won the Tour of Lombardy in 1940, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953.