Evenepoel, Pidcock, Del Toro, Seixas... - How have Il Lombardia's favourites prepared for final climbing showdown
Cycling
The 2026 road cycling season is in its dying breath. For most of the community, Il Lombardia this Saturday is the real wrap of the season, and the startlist filled with star names supports this impression, regardless of the Tour of Guangxi taking place next week as the final WorldTour race of the season.
After five long years, the "Race of the Falling Leaves" will see a new champion. Since Jakob Fuglsang's triumph in 2020, it's been the phenomenal Tadej Pogacar who always got to raise his hands at the end of the fifth Monument of the season. And since 2023, we're talking about dominant solo victories.
For this year's edition, several serious challengers arose, looking to claim Pogacar's empty throne. Among them, most often mentioned are the names of Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro and Tom Pidcock.
Evenepoel has something left to prove
Remco Evenepoel can already take his 2026 season as a success, regardless of the outcome on Saturday. The 26-year-old Belgian claimed 13 professional victories, most notably the European road title last Sunday and his fourth World time trial title. With that, he completed his unique Championships collection.
Evenepoel has been just as successful in regular Classics, winning Amstel Gold Race, Clasica San Sebastian and Grand Prix de Québec. In addition, he made a successful Tour of Flanders debut with a third place, a result he repeated three weeks later at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
On the Grand Tour side, Evenepoel returned to the Tour de France podium after one-year absence. Besides two stage wins, Evenepoel more importantly finished second overall, only shy of the dominant Tadej Pogacar - something he's gotten used to at this point.
Remco Evenepoel won his 4th world time trial title in a row in Montreal
The only letdown of the 2026 season must be his appearances in Montréal. First, Evenepoel failed to join the winning move of Seixas and Del Toro at the Grand Prix, and later found himself without the legs to compete for rainbow jersey during the World Championships road race. He finished 12th.
But Il Lombardia will be a different race. Less explosive, more endurant and with substantially longer ascents (although shorter than in previous three editions!). For the incredible engine that Evenepoel possesses, it is a tailor-made race.
The opponents know that all too well. After all, Evenepoel has been the clear runner-up behind Tadej Pogacar in two most recent editions.
Winning the Lombardia would have a special meaning to the Belgian rider. During his 2020 debut, Evenepoel suffered a hard fall off a bridge during a descent in the final parts of the race. Evenepoel suffered a broken pelvis, but was able to resume racing at the Giro d'Italia the following year and eventually returned to his full strength to have a perfect shot at the victory six years later.
Del Toro vs. Seixas, 3rd re-match
Behind Evenepoel, two young riders are seen as the main challengers who can upset Evenepoel. Not only tactically, but also with their raw talent-power. Of course, the talk is about the 22-year-old Isaac del Toro, and 20-year-old Paul Seixas.
Isaac Del Toro is in an easy, yet difficult position on the eve of the race. The Mexican doesn't really have much to lose at this race. He's already completed a great season which included four GC titles at UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Critérium du Dauphiné and Deutschland Tour.
His one day-races were just as successful. Del Toro won the Grand Prix de Montréal, finished third at Strade Bianche, and fifth at the World Championships.
The difficult part comes from heritage. As Tadej Pogacar's teammate at UAE Team Emirates - XRG, he has a certain standard to uphold. Nobody would say it out loud, but after Brandon McNulty kept the world title within the Emirati team, the same is unconsciously expected from the Mexican rider at Il Lombardia. And that's not an easy task.
Isaac del Toro winning the 2026 GP de Montréal ahead of Paul Seixas
Del Toro knows how to ride well at the Italian Monument. After all, he led home the group of favourites in 5th place during the 2025 edition. But that was 2:30 behind Remco Evenepoel. In order to win, he'll have to tag (and surpass) the Belgian rider. In Montréal, Del Toro was stronger. But two weeks have passed, and Evenepoel has since become European Champion. The roles may have changed.
And then there is Del Toro's nemesis from Canada; Paul Seixas. The Frenchman is only in his second year as a professional, but already among the best cyclists in the world. His talent is undeniable and Il Lombardia suits the young rider's profile to a dot.
The list of exploits of Seixas in 2026 speaks for itself; 2nd at Strade Bianche (behind Pogacar), overall title at Itzulia Basque Country, victory at La Fleche Wallonne, second place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege (behind Pogacar), 4th overall at his debut Tour de France, runner-up to Del Toro at GP de Montréal, and a bronze medal from World time trial Championships.
The first crack in Seixas' armour were the World Championships where he cramped out of the leading group to finish 15th. Afterwards, the young Frenchman adopted a more strategical approach and skipped the European Championships where he'd be otherwise defending a bronze medal from 2025.
Two weeks later, it's a bit of a mystery how has the Decathlon CMA CGM rider recovered, but there's no denying that his level will be high - as always. The only question is whether either Del Toro or Seixas can challenge Evenepoel, or will prioritize to continue their duel which started all the way back at Strade Bianche this spring.
If we were to list all the possible podium candidates, we might be here for a while. World champion Brandon McNulty, Lenny Martinez, Primoz Roglic, Giulio Ciccone, Quinn Simmons, or Matteo Jorgenson are beyond any doubt solid options for a top result. But to us another name stands out.
Pidcock can surprise
Starting as part of a ProTeam, Tom Pidcock does not immediately pop up in the traditional team hierarchy. But the Brit has clearly prepared very well for the final part of this season.
If there's anything missing in Pidcock's 2026 campaign, it has to be a WorldTour victory. The 27-year-old Brit has enjoyed a success at Milano - Torino (1.Pro), Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica (1.1), GP Industria & Artigianato (1.Pro), and stages of Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol (2.Pro), Tour of the Alps (2.Pro), but had to bow to another riders at the biggest races.
At Milano-Sanremo, it was Tadej Pogacar in a close head-to-head sprint. At Eschborn-Frankfurt, Georg Zimmermann surged past anyone in front of his home crowds. At Tour de France, Pidcock podiumed two stages.
In Canada, Pidcock finished 4th at GP de Québec, 6th at GP de Montréal, and finally 7th in the World Championships race. In the close run-up to Lombardia, Pidcock finished runner-up also at Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine. This means that his level is good, and just a bit of luck is missing.
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That "little extra something" he might find in Lombardia. This year, the race finale doesn't feature either of the 10-kilometer mountain passes (Passo della Croecetta, Passo di Ganda, or Colma di Sormano), which creates a perfect scenario for Pidcock.
With his mountain bike background, these slightly shorter climbs up to 20 minutes in length are precisely where the Brit excels.
The race might play out in many ways which could benefit Pidcock who is not afraid to attack both uphill and downhill. If the situation were to come when Evenepoel, Seixas and Del Toro begin to look at each other, Pidcock could sneak away with the biggest victory of his road career.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yes man that would draw a crowdwrsty10-10-2026
- That is what is called "dreaming". "The victory was quite close" . minutes is not close for a GT. anything above 2 minutes is a comfortable victory, above 5 minutes a overwhelming victory and Remco did not even tryabstractengineer10-10-2026
- Remco wins!
DareDevil10-10-2026 - I wonder if this had anything to do with the controversial finish at the Euros and Ciccone's Instagram post which followed?Cooldude10-10-2026
- I love to see him start in Down Under. Spices up the startlist!!DareDevil10-10-2026
- exactly! He does nothing the rest of the year!frieders309-10-2026
- what I don't understand is how do we know the photo --Line of pixel capture, is actually lined up with the finish line on the road? in this case even a couple inches either way could have made for the difference.jad2909-10-2026
- Yes, question is, why is Ineos so easy to convince ?Mistermaumau09-10-2026
- Or maybe they’ll just abandon the sport and focus on RE, unless they can revive MU. Maybe it’s all just about budget adjustments in preparation for takeover by the new sponsor who might have no use for some people in their idea of a projectMistermaumau09-10-2026
- Sounds like management did their job pretty well then ;-)Mistermaumau09-10-2026
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