Il Lombardia 2024: Tadej Pogacar becomes first man in 75 years to win four straight Giro di Lombardia titles after attack on Sormano
The Slovenian world champion attacked with just under 50km to go and soloed to a comfortable victory, with Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel burying old demons to finish second.
Cycling Road
Tadej Pogacar continues to write more road cycling history.
The world champion added to his impressive list of achievements on Saturday (12 October) by winning the year's last Monument classic, Il Lombardia, in Como and thus becoming the first man ever to win the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, World Championships road race, and Il Lombardia in the same year.
His solo attack on the ascent of the Colma di Sormano with just under 50km to the finish, which no one was able to respond to, also made Pogacar only the second man after the legendary Fausto Coppi to win this race four years in a row, with Coppi having achieved the feat 75 years ago from 1946 to 1949.
Pogacar's victory on Saturday in 6 hours 4 minutes 58 seconds makes him the third rider to have won the "Classic of the Falling Leaves" four times.
Acknowledging the crowd, the world champion slowed to nearly a complete stop as he crossed under the finish with his arms outstretched, before climbing off his bike and lifting it up in celebration.
The margin of the Slovenian's win was 3:16, the largest margin of victory in the race since 1971 when Eddy Merckx won by 3:31.
"Every victory is special and today also because we worked so hard all year for all the victories we achieved. Today is no different," Pogacar said afterwards.
"We planned this (attack) like this because the race is so hard that in the end, the last 40km is more or less man to a man, and I knew if I had a decent gap at the top I can manage to come to the finish, but you never know.
"I was just enjoying the crowds and now I'm looking forward to the off-season."
Everything went to plan for Pogacar, who let the break go away before it was hauled back in as the slopes of the Sormano began to ramp up.
The world champion then chose his moment to attack, right after Italy's Giulio Ciccone had tried an acceleration from the group of favourites. No one had the legs to follow, however much Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas tried, allowing Pogacar to solo the final 48km.
Within five kilometres of his attack, Pogacar had opened up a gap of 52 seconds, and he continued to pad that lead up to the finish line.
It was a dominant display from the Slovenian to cap a banner year as he continues to tear up the sport's records books.
Evenepoel, who broke clear of the small lead group alongside Mas as Pogacar attacked but could not catch the imperious Slovenian, finished second to banish old demons. On his debut in this race in 2021, he suffered a massive crash on the descent of the Muro di Sormano, going over into a ravine which put him out of action for eight months with a broken pelvis.
On Saturday, however, Evenepoel was the best of the rest, attacking his chase counterparts Mas and Lennert van Eetvelt on the downhill of the Sormano to go clear between them and Pogacar.
The Belgian finished 3:16 behind Pogacar, giving a small wave to the fans as he crossed the line, while Ciccone took third after making his move on Mas and van Eetvelt during the race's final ascent at San Fermo della Battaglia.