COMO, Italy — World champion Tadej Pogacar rounded off his remarkable season by winning Tour of Lombardy for the fourth year in a row, after a solo attack left his rivals chasing in vain yet again.
In a near-identical move to his attack at the worlds two weeks ago, the three-time Tour de France champion surged ahead some 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the end.
No other rider even tried to catch the Slovenian, who clinched the final one-day classic of the season.
The undulating and scenic race in autumn, known as the ” Classic of the Falling Leaves ” started in Bergamo and finished 255 kilometres (158 miles) later, with riders tackling iconic climbs such as Colma di Sormano and San Fermo della Battaglia before reaching Como’s famed lakefront.
Pogacar, wearing the rainbow jersey having won the world championship road race title at the end of last month, made his move with 48km remaining, after his UAE Team Emirates colleagues had reeled in an earlier breakaway group.
There was no attempt to counter him and he could even afford to wave to the crowd as he reached the line, finishing 3 minutes, 16 seconds clear of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel in second place and 4:31 clear of Italian Giulio Ciccone in third.
Pogacar lifted his bike up and shook it vigorously in celebration. “This victory is very special,” said Pogacar, who rides for the UAE Emirates team.
“The race is so hard,” Pogacar added according to AP.
Pogacar joined Italian Alfredo Binda – 1925-27 and 1931 – on four Giro di Lombardia titles. Only post-Second World War Italian great Fausto Coppi has won more with five, from 1946-49 and in 1954.
Pogacar has been close to untouchable this year, achieving the rare treble of winning the worlds, the Tour and the Giro d´Italia.
“The whole race was depending on our team so it’s great to finish it off,” Pogacar noted according to Reuters.
“My attack was planned because I knew if I had a decent gap at the top it would be a man to man battle in the last 40km and I could make it to the finish but you never know.
“I pushed in the downhill to win the mental game on Remco Evenepoel.”
The season ends as it began for Pogacar, with a win in Italy, having started the year by taking the Strade Bianche title in March, and Lombardia is his second Monument victory this year after his win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Pogacar won his debut Giro d’Italia in May, with a winning margin of almost 10 minutes, and he followed that up by winning his third Tour de France, and became only the third rider to win the Triple Crown with his triumph at the World Championships.
Only one man had previously managed four consecutive wins at Lombardia, Fausto Coppi winning from 1946 to 1949, but Pogacar is not one to rest on his laurels.
“In the finale, I was just enjoying the moment with the crowd and I was thinking of the off season,” Pogacar said.
“After my career we’ll see where I stand in the history of cycling.”
Pogacar took a look over his shoulder before celebrating on the finish line, but he need not have bothered. “I was just enjoying the crowds, and looking forward to off-season,” he said.
Another rider looking forward to a break is Tom Pidcock, who was a surprise omission from Ineos Grenadiers’ squad for the race when it was announced. Amid rumours of a departure from the British team, Pidcock said he was “deselected” from the season’s final monument.
“Just as things were on the up after a turbulent end to the year I am deselected for Lombardia tomorrow,” Pidcock wrote on Instagram.
“I am in great shape and was really looking forwarded to it! Good luck to the boys, I guess off season starts early. Thanks for everyone’s support even in the tough times.”
Pogacar was given the platform for victory by his UAE Team Emirates colleagues who delivered their leader to the Colma Di Sormano with the fleeting breakaway group reeled in. “We planned it like this,” explained Pogacar.
“The race is so hard that in the end the last 40km is more or less man to man. I knew if I had a decent gap on the top I can come to the finish, but you never know.
