Dubai: The last 48.4km of solo riding of the season gave Tadej Pogacar the fourth victory in a row at Il Lombardia, his final race of the World Tour 2024 calendar.
The world champion attacked from the top riders lead group on the Colma di Sormano climb, after that his teammates had controlled the main breakaway of the day.
Pogacar immediately created a solid advantage, that was over the minute on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) at the end of the Sormano downhill.
After having increased the gap with a classy solo ride, he reached the arrival in Como with 3’16” on Evenepoel, obtaining the 25th seasonal victory, including two Monuments (Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia), two Great Tours (Giro d’Italia and Tour de France) and the World Championships.
Top performance
For the UAE Team Emirates, Saturday’s success from Pogacar is No 81 in 2024.
It was also a top performance by Pavel Sivakov, who completed the race in sixth position after having battled also for a place on the podium.
Pogacar said: “Every victory is special and this one is too because the team worked so hard as we did for all the year for the successes we achieved.
It was a long race, and all the work was on UAE Team Emirates. We did a super good job, that’s why I am so happy for this victory.
“We planned to attack as I did, because we knew the race would have been hard and the final 40km would have been a man to a man battle, so I knew that if I would have a gap on the top of the Colma di Sormano, I could keep it to the finish. And this is what happened.
“After the downhill I pushed hard on the following up and down sector also in order to win the mental game on the chasers. Then, in the last ten kilometres, I enjoyed the crowd.”
Results
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 6h04’58”
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +3’16”
3. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) 4’31”
