There may be nonetheless racing to observe on the calendar within the Veneto, in China and in France, however for a lot of, Il Lombardia represents the symbolic finish of the biking season. Simply as Milan-San Remo’s passage over the Turchino heralds the approaching of spring, the Race of the Falling Leaves hints on the arrival of winter.
That mentioned, an autumn heatwave in northern Italy implies that temperatures ought to prime 25°C on the highway to Bergamo, the place a discipline that includes a few of the most notable performers of the previous summer time will contest the spoils.
Tadej Pogačar is in search of to emulate Fausto Coppi and Alfredo Binda together with his third straight win, whereas his compatriot Primož Roglič can be aiming to finish his time at Jumbo-Visma on a excessive observe.
Remco Evenepoel leads a Soudal-QuickStep crew nonetheless reeling from information of the proposed merger with Jumbo-Visma, whereas 2018 winner Thibaut Pinot bids farewell to the skilled peloton on a few of his favorite roads. Cyclingnews casts a look over a few of the riders to look at on Saturday.
Winner in 2021 and 2022, Tadej Pogačar is trying to keep his 100% file at Il Lombardia and grow to be the primary man to say the Race of the Falling Leaves thrice in a row since Fausto Coppi.
After a wonderful, all-action Spring and a bruising Tour de France, Pogačar opted in opposition to the Vuelta a España and the Canadian WorldTour races within the latter a part of the season, limiting himself as an alternative to a collection of one-day races in Italy.
Pogačar has been aggressive on Italian roads, however he hasn’t but been in a position to overwhelm his rivals as he did again within the Spring. His situation, nevertheless, has appeared to be in crescendo since he returned to motion on the Giro della Toscana, and he may have drawn encouragement from his second-place end on the Giro dell’Emilia.
Jumbo-Visma’s dominance has in the end proved to be the story of the season, however that can solely make Pogačar even keener to have the final phrase.
No matter occurs on Saturday, Primož Roglič can be within the headlines as he makes his ultimate look in Jumbo-Visma’s yellow and black jersey earlier than leaving for pastures new. The Slovenian matter-of-factly confirmed his departure on the beginning line of the Giro dell’Emilia after which equally matter-of-factly scorched to victory 4 hours later atop the San Luca.
On Tuesday, Roglič wasn’t in a position to replicate his 2019 Tre Valli Varesine victory, however he had already hinted that Il Lombardia can be his essential goal of the week and he seemed comfy in responding to Pogačar’s aggression.
Roglič has at all times began among the many favourites for Il Lombardia however his greatest end within the race was his fourth place of two years in the past. His 2023 classic, nevertheless, has arguably been his greatest but, with wins on the Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta a Burgos, to not point out his half in Jumbo-Visma’s sweep of the Vuelta podium. Il Lombardia may present the grand farewell, with Roglič hinting he would reveal his 2024 crew shortly afterwards.
Remco Evenepoel has but to talk publicly concerning the proposed merger between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep, although he may nicely provide up an announcement of kinds on the highway to Bergamo on Saturday.
Evenepoel’s GC problem on the Vuelta fell brief final month, however he nonetheless emerged from the race together with his status enhanced after his boundless aggression netted him three stage wins and the king of the mountains title. If he can replicate that élan at Il Lombardia, absolutely anything is feasible.
Il Lombardia carries a selected resonance for Evenepoel, who suffered a career-threatening crash on the descent of the Sormano throughout the novel, summer time version of 2020. He was nonetheless wanting his greatest when he returned in 2021, whereas he skipped final 12 months’s race after touchdown the world title in Wollongong.
Ilan Van Wilder, such a powerful winner of Tre Valli Varesine, can be a most helpful foil for Evenepoel, whereas Julian Alaphilippe will even be hand, though the Frenchman stays wanting his greatest on the finish of a making an attempt marketing campaign.
The swap from Ineos Grenadiers to UAE Workforce Emirates has paid dividends for Adam Yates, who has loved the most effective season of his profession in 2023. The apparent excessive level was the Tour de France, the place Yates claimed third general, a stage win and a spell within the yellow jersey, however he has completed out the 12 months simply as strongly as he started it, notching up victory on the Grand Prix de Montréal final month.
In Canada, in fact, Yates had the luxurious of racing for himself. On Saturday, he’ll set out from Como as Pogačar’s deluxe gregario, a task he once more carried out on the Giro dell’Emilia final weekend, the place he laid down a fierce tempo on the ultimate lap of the ending circuit and many of the manner up the Colle della Guardia.
Will probably be fascinating to see how UAE select to deploy Yates on Saturday, provided that Pogačar has not fairly reached his unassailable greatest on this ultimate part of the season. Certainly, such is Yates’ understanding with Pogačar, he might discover his function modifications on the hoof within the finale.
Il Lombardia’s place on the calendar means the game’s most beguiling Monument additionally doubles because the last-chance saloon for riders trying to save their seasons. Motivation counts for lots at this level within the season, as a look on the race’s roll of honour reveals. For some, Saturday’s race is an opportunity to place a really completely different gloss on their campaigns.
Richard Carapaz definitely matches the invoice. After a troublesome winter, the Ecuadorian champion had a gradual begin to life at EF Training-EasyPost. Then, simply when he appeared to be build up a head of steam, he crashed out of the Tour de France on the primary day and didn’t get better in time to experience the Vuelta.
Carapaz nonetheless has two years to run on his contract and he would have been forgiven for writing 2023 off as a misplaced trigger. As a substitute, he has been repeatedly to the fore within the closing weeks of the season, inserting second on the Giro della Toscana and Tre Valli Varesine, and seventh at each the Coppa Sabatini and Giro dell’Emilia.
Remarkably, the Olympic champion has raced Il Lombardia simply as soon as earlier than, inserting thirteenth in 2020, however he’s an apparent contender right here, and he traces out on an EF Training-EasyPost crew that features one other clear dangerman in Ben Healy, so spectacular all season and on kind on the latest Tour of Luxembourg.
Like Carapaz, Enric Mas crashed out of the Tour on the primary day and he’s additionally out to save lots of his season at Il Lombardia. The Spaniard did make it again in time for the Vuelta, however he by no means as soon as seemed like competing on the identical, exalted degree of Jumbo-Visma, reaching Madrid in sixth place general.
Nonetheless, the consequence ensured he would have one thing to indicate for his season, and Mas has appeared eager to benefit from his Autumn situation on Italian roads. He positioned fourth on the Giro dell’Emilia on the weekend and appeared to be comfortably buying and selling blows with Pogačar and Roglič at Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday.
Mas was overwhelmed into second by Pogačar within the two-up dash on the finish of final 12 months’s Il Lombardia and he ought to be within the combine once more right here.
Aleksandr Vlasov hasn’t gained a race in 2023, however he has once more been a mannequin of quiet consistency in his second season at Bora-Hansgrohe. Sickness pressured a untimely finish to his Giro d’Italia, however the Russian returned in the summertime with hanging podium finishes on the Clásica de San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos.
These shows raised hopes forward of the Vuelta a España, however, like many, he discovered that Jumbo-Visma had been travelling to locations he merely couldn’t attain, and he positioned seventh general in Madrid. Vlasov positioned on the rostrum of Il Lombardia in the summertime version of 2020, however he has by no means fairly hit the identical excessive notes in its conventional October date. Nonetheless, there have been some encouraging indicators in his first two outings this week, as he positioned sixth atop the San Luca on the Giro dell’Emilia after which gained the dash for third at Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday.
Ben Healy (EF Training-EasyPost)
By any metric, Ben Healy has been one of many revelations of the 2023 season. He obtained off to a quick begin with third place on the Trofeo Calvia in January and easily saved on going. Victories Off Broadway at GP Industria & Artigianato and the Settimana Coppi e Bartali didn’t garner the eye they deserved on the time, however the world sat up and took discover after Healy’s exceptional Classics marketing campaign, the place he took second at Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race earlier than narrowly lacking out on the rostrum at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The shows had been all of the extra exceptional provided that the races had been a late addition to his programme forward of his essential goal, the Giro. Regardless of, Healy proceeded to land a hanging solo victory at Fossombrone and he got here near repeating the feat within the miniature Il Lombardia to Bergamo per week later.
The Irish champion has quietly discovered his legs once more within the ultimate weeks of the season, claiming a by-now trademark solo victory in Vianden on the Tour of Luxembourg en route to 3rd general. He deserted Tre Valli Varesine in midweek and Carapaz is EF’s acknowledged chief at Il Lombardia – but when Healy goes up the highway, he gained’t be simply introduced again.
The Tour de France didn’t play out the way in which Ben O’Connor had hoped, however the Australian has regrouped nicely, throwing himself into the ultimate a part of his 12 months with gusto. After the high-wire act of getting ready and racing a Grand Tour, O’Connor has seemed like a person having fun with the liberty supplied by his late-season programme.
O’Connor caught the attention with a late assault on the GP de Montréal, the place he completed in seventh place, and he has been to the fore in Italy over the previous week too as he builds in direction of Il Lombardia.
Pogačar, Roglič et al could also be at a distinct degree to only about allcomers, however Van Wilder’s canny Tre Valli Varesine triumph was a reminder of the alternatives that abound at this level within the season. O’Connor hasn’t obtained his timing fairly proper so far, however he has been persistently within the combine in latest weeks.
Thibaut Pinot had already had one thing like the proper send-off on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France, when his assault on the Petit Ballon set hearts aflutter. It scarcely mattered that he was caught by the yellow jersey group on the ultimate ascent of Platzerwasel. On a day like that, racing on his personal coaching roads, the feelings far outweighed the consequence. “The very best farewell would have been to win, however I can’t be too grasping,” Pinot mentioned afterwards. “That solely occurs in books or tv reveals.”
Relatively than grasp up his wheels there after which, nevertheless, Pinot has continued to race, having lengthy signalled his need to finish his profession at Il Lombardia, a nod to his longstanding fascination with life and racing on the opposite facet of the Alps.
Pinot loved a few of his most interesting moments in Italy, most notably when he gained Il Lombardia in 2018, and he additionally endured appreciable heartbreak within the nation, equivalent to his travails on the ultimate weekend of that 12 months’s Giro.
On Saturday, Pinot will tilt on the windmill one ultimate time. A crash at Tour Poitou-Charentes hasn’t helped his late-season kind and victory in Bergamo is definitely past him, however that gained’t matter to the Collectif Extremely Pinot. They are going to be out in pressure on the ultimate climb of the Colle Aperto, with a variety of former teammates already confirming their presence on the ‘Curva Pinot’ on Saturday afternoon.
