Tadej Pogacar captured Il Lombardia for a fifth time in succession, equalling Fausto Coppi’s record of victories in the season-ending Monument race.
The Slovenian crossed the line first in Bergamo after a trademark attack on the Passo di Ganda climb to blitz the rest of the field and become the first man since Eddy Merckx in 1975 to win three Monuments, the Tour de France and a world title in a single season.
From the moment Pogacar was set up to launch his attack by his UAE teammates with around 38km remaining of the 241km race, there was no doubt of the final result, with only Quinn Simmons out on his own 1min 10sec up the road.
Pogacar finished nearly two minutes ahead of Remco Evenepoel, who again ended up second behind cycling’s dominant force as he did at the recent world and European championships.
Australian Michael Storer finished third, rounding out the podium.
“To win five times in a row … every time I start it feels like this race is suited to me, but also at the same time that with such a good team around me we can pull it off,” Pogacar said. “I always say, seven years in a row, this is my best season, and again I can say this is the best season so far.”
At 27 years old Pogacar has now won 10 of the sport’s Monuments – the five toughest and longest one-day races of the year – nine shy of a career tally set by Merckx, who won three in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1975.
His fifth straight victory in the “Race of the Falling Leaves” is another record to add to a growing list as Italian great Coppi achieved four consecutive wins between 1946 and 1949, with his fifth coming in 1954.
Pogacar is used to making history as this year he became the first man to win the Tour de France and world championship two seasons in a row. He is now also the first to finish on the podium of all five Monuments in the same season.
In April, Pogacar won the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, victories which go alongside third place in Milan-San Remo and second in Paris-Roubaix which were both won by Mathieu van der Poel.
Backed by a star-studded team which included the likes of Isaac del Toro and Adam Yates, Pogacar plugged away in the peloton for much of the race as a breakaway containing Simmons pushed ahead early on. The American attacked from the break on the Passo della Crocetta climb and was 50 seconds in front of the chasers – and more than three minutes ahead of the peloton – by the time he hit the crest of that ascent with more than 70km remaining.
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The gap to Pogacar and company held steady while the original break was slowly brought back into the main group and, by the time the bulk of the race reached the Passo di Ganda, Simmons’ lead had been cut by a minute.
Pogacar finally made his move on that climb, exactly as he did two years ago, once the peloton crumbled in the face of the punishing pace set by his teammate Jay Vine with Del Toro holding off the competition. From there Pogacar slashed at Simmons’ lead and caught him some way before the summit, and from there it was a one-man procession to a historic win.
Storer became only the second Australian rider in 120 years to make the podium at the Tour of Lombardy, after Phil Anderson in 1986.
The 28-year-old had tried to go with Evenepoel after they had both been left for dead by Pogacar, but he was distanced by the Belgian over the final 10km and battled home for third, 25 seconds clear of Simmons.
It was Storer’s maiden monument podium in a year when he also earned his first stage victory at Paris-Nice, followed by both a stage win and the overall triumph in Tour of the Alps.
The Perth rider finished in the top 10 in the Giro d’Italia and recently won the prestigious Memorial Pantani race.
