08/10/2022

Tadej Pogacar makes it 2 for 2 with striking Il Lombardia win

Tadej Pogacar came into Il Lombardia as the man to beat, and he proved his status right as he managed to survive all the attacks from Enric Mas in the final climbs, and outsprinted the Spaniard at the finish to win his second consecutive win.

The mountainous start provided terrain for a strong breakaway to go up the road, and several riders made the move. Alessandro De Marchi (Israel - Premier Tech), Kenny Elissonde (Trek - Segafredo), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën Team), Lawson Craddock (EF Education-EasyPost), Davide Bais (EOLO-Kometa), Simone Ravanelli and Natnael Tesfatsion (Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Luca Covili and Alex Tolio (Bardiani - CSF - Faizanè) made it onto the front.

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The 10-rider group never had more than four minutes of lead over the peloton however, as Jumbo-Visma and Movistar controlled the race and set a strong pace throughout the many climbs. The breakaway was caught at the base of Madonna del Ghisallo, where Jumbo-Visma, and later UAE Team Emirates set a strong pace that shed the peloton from quite a few riders.

UAE kept the pace up with João Almeida, and the peloton split again before the first ascent of San Fermo della Bataglia in a small but technical descent. UAE kept the pace high, as at the bottom of all climbs the pace was furious for positioning. Into Civiglio the situation was the same, with Davide Formolo setting up an attack from Pogacar in the first half of the climb.

Enric Mas directly followed, then joined by Mikel Landa. Mas attacked aswell, but Pogacar remained in control of the situation. Landa got back on the hard descent of Civiglio and the trio headed into the final climb, with a small group chasing over half a minute behind. There, Mas attacked twice, although Landa was dropped, Pogacar was always in the wheel.

The two went into the finish alone, and although it was a close fight, Pogacar rode into his second win in two appearances at the Race of the Fallen Leaves. The second place was for the Movistar rider, whilst Mikel Landa survived for third place.