Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won the 117th Giro di Lombardia, taking his third consecutive success in the final monument classic of the season. The champion from Komenda has thus equaled Alfredo Binda, author of a hat-trick between 1925 and 1927, and next year will be able to chase the poker of Fausto Coppi, triumphant in four consecutive editions from 1946 to 1949. Unlike the two previous successes obtained in limited sprints, respectively on Fausto Masnada (Soudal Quick Step) in 2021 and Enric Mas (Team Movistar) last year in Como, this time the Slovenian did not want to leave anything to chance, appearing only on the Bergamo finish line in Via Roma . In the platonic sprint of the beaten track, finishing 51″ apart, Andrea Bagioli from Valtellina (Soudal Quick Step) prevailed over the other Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
The first part of the race was characterized by the escape of a group of 16 riders, formed during the ascent to Ghisallo: Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Dstny), Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan), Mattia Bais (Eolo Kometa), Nicolò Buratti (Bahrain Victorious), Jacob Eriksson (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Asbjorn Hellemose (Lidl Trek), Paul Ourselin (Total Energies), Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroen), Kamil Malecki (Q36.5), Alex Tolio and Martin Marcellusi (Green Project-Bardiani CSF Faizanè), Nils Brun (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Nicola Conci and Tobias Bayer (Alpecin Deceuninck). This group, whose maximum advantage reached three minutes, remained in advance for 120 kilometers. Behind, in the meantime, we witnessed the fall, apparently without consequences, of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step). The race came to life 80 kilometers from the finish line with the attack from behind by the Gaelic tandem made up of the Irishman Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) and the Scotsman Oscar Onley (Team DSM Firmenich). The two reached and overtook the attackers of the first hour, among whom only Marcellusi and Prodhomme managed to stay connected. Upon reaching the summit of Zambla Alta, the quartet maintained a 52″ lead over the leading group. At the end of the descent there was a new fall involving the 2016 winner Esteban Chaves and the Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easypost), the conqueror of the 2020 summer edition, the Dane Jakub Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) and the Basque Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious).
At the entrance to the decisive Passo di Ganda Healy appeared with Marcellussi in tow, the only one capable of resisting the progression of the winner of the Fossombrone stage this year at the Giro. The duo’s one-minute lead dissolved in the space of a couple of kilometers under the push given to the group by Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). Halfway up the climb there were only ten riders in front, among them there was no Evenepoel, definitely not on the day. Pogacar, astutely, favored an attack from his teammate, allowing himself to break away together with Roglic who, at this point, was forced to chase. At the moment in which the reunion seemed to materialize, Tadej set off, not far from the point where he launched the decisive attack in 2021. He was followed, and above all he was relieved, by the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora Hansgrohe). This action, which stabilized with a margin of 15”, forced Roglic into a new exhausting chase. The champion from Trbovlje managed to return to the top of Ganda. In reality, as the British group Imagination sang 40 years ago, the reunion was Just an illusion.
In fact, at the start of the descent, seeing his exhausted rival, Tadej made the decisive move. Slowly, but surely, his lead increased kilometer after kilometer over a group of six that regrouped behind him, all, however, too exhausted to be able to give any vigor to the chase. At the top of Colle Aperto, Pogacar reached a one-minute margin. Finally, after the nosedive from Bergamo Alta towards the center of the city, the son of the Tricorno even had time to slow down to greet the crowd and enjoy his umpteenth triumph which confirms him, if there was still any need, as the indisputable number one of world cycling. We look forward to seeing him at the Giro d’Italia next year.
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