(Reuters) – World champion Tadej Pogacar rounded off his remarkable season by winning the Giro di Lombardia for the fourth year in a row on Saturday, after a solo attack left his rivals chasing in vain yet again.
Pogacar, wearing the rainbow jersey having won the world championship road race title at the end of last month, made his move with 48km remaining, after his UAE Team Emirates colleagues had reeled in an earlier breakaway group.
The Slovenian’s attack came on the Colma di Sormano climb during the 255-km ride from Bergamo to Como, and despite Belgian Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel giving chase, Pogacar’s lead only increased on the descent.
“The whole race was depending on our team so it’s great to finish it off,” Pogacar said.
“My attack was planned because I knew if I had a decent gap at the top it would be a man to man battle in the last 40km and I could make it to the finish but you never know.
“I pushed in the downhill to win the mental game on Remco Evenepoel.”
Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) came in second, three minutes and 16 seconds behind Pogacar, and the home crowd had something to cheer about with Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) finishing third.
The season ends as it began for Pogacar, with a win in Italy, having started the year by taking the Strade Bianche title in March, and Lombardia is his second Monument victory this year after his win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Pogacar won his debut Giro d’Italia in May, with a winning margin of almost 10 minutes, and he followed that up by winning his third Tour de France, and became only the third rider to win the Triple Crown with his triumph at the World Championships.
Only one man had previously managed four consecutive wins at Lombardia, Fausto Coppi winning from 1946 to 1949, but Pogacar is not one to rest on his laurels.
“In the finale, I was just enjoying the moment with the crowd and I was thinking of the off season,” Pogacar said.
“After my career we’ll see where I stand in the history of cycling.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
