Many had expected it, but Tadej Pogacar did not disappoint on Saturday afternoon at Il Lombardia, romping to a dominant monument win to top off his 2024 campaign, following an attack nearly 50km out from the line.
"Every victory is special and today also," began Pogacar's post-race assessment having taken his fourth Il Lombardia success in a row with this triumph, entering the company of the great Fausto Coppi. "The team worked so hard all year for all the victories we achieved and today was no different. It was a big day for us, a long race, a hard race and it was all dependant on our team. So yeah, we did a super good job and I'm super happy to win for the team!"
Attacking from 48km to go this time, much shorter than his World Championship winning escapade recently, it seemed the whole race was just waiting for the Slovenian to make his move. When he did, there was no reaction though, and everyone's thoughts immediately turned towards the fight for 2nd and 3rd, eventually taken by Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone respectively, although both were well down on Pogacar by the time they crossed the finish line in Como.
"We planned it like this because the race so hard that in the end, the last 40km is pretty much mano-a-mano. I knew if I had a decent gap at the top (of the Colma di Sormano ed.) I could manage to come to the finish," Pogacar explains. "But, you never know if it happens or not. I just kept trying to push to gain a few more seconds to win the mental game on the chase. I just pushed as hard as possible to the finish."
On talks of history, Pogacar bluntly shut things down. "Let's see where we are after my career!" Pogacar concluded firmly.
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