The 2024 road racing season is winding towards its conclusion as the final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia, lies in wait for the men's peloton on October 12.
The final high-prestige race of the season draws to a close a short but intense period of racing across Italy featuring seven men's races and two women's races packed into a week, beginning on October 5 with the Giro dell'Emilia.
Along the way, covering the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, come races including the Coppa Agostoni and Gran Piemonte. The meetings bring together some of the biggest names in the men's and women's pelotons.
Read on for all the information on the late-season batch of Italian Classic races, filling the upcoming calendar between Saturday, October 5 and Saturday, October 12.
October 5 – Giro dell'Emilia men & women
Riders tackle the famous San Luca climb at the 2023 Giro dell'Emilia Donne (Image credit: Getty Images)
Location: Vignola - San Luca
Length: 215.3km / 113.8km
Ascent: 3,412m / 617m
Level: 1.Pro
The run of races opens with prestigious Giro dell'Emilia which features the famous climb of San Luca in the heart of Bologna, a challenge which formed part of the finale of stage 3 of this year's Tour de France. This year, the men's race turns 107, while the women's race runs its 11th edition.
Challenges filling out the 215km men's route include the climbs of Zocca (13.5km at 4%), Grizzana Morandi (6km at 6%) and Montechiaro (3.3km at 9.1%) before five laps of the closing circuit and five ascents of San Luca (2.1km at 9.4%).
The 114km women's race, meanwhile, is far simpler, featuring a long, flat run-in before two ascents of San Luca provide the main challenge.
The final climb to San Luca is often the decisive point of the race following a wearing-down process over the earlier hills. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) shot to victory last year, while riders including Enric Mas (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx-ProTime) have also triumphed here.
This year's men's race brings Tadej Pogačar's (UAE Team Emirates) first outing in the rainbow jersey. He'll face off against Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Roglič, Mas, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and more. The women's lineup has yet to be fully revealed, though Cat Ferguson and Liane Lippert will race for Movistar.
Giro dell'Emilia Donne 2024 route(Image credit: GS Emilia)
October 6 – Coppa Agostoni
Davide Formolo won the 2023 Coppa Agostoni (Image credit: Getty Images)
Location: Lissone - Lissone
Length: 166.7km
Ascent: 2,890m
Level: 1.1
On Sunday, the action heads to Lombardy for the 77th Coppa Agostoni, a race featuring a mid-race hilly circuit which filters down the peloton ahead of a flat run to the line in Lissone.
The early, flat run to the circuit has been cut down for 2024, shortening the race length by almost 30km. Four circuits of the lap featuring the climbs of Sirtori (1.6km at 5.3%), the Colle Brianza (3.1km at 6.7%) and Lissolo (2.5km at 7.2%) mark the toughest part of the race.
Alexey Lutsenko, Gianni Moscon, and Davide Formolo have won the race in recent years, with the Italian soloing home from 11km out last Autumn as teammate Marc Hirschi secured a UAE Team Emirates one-two finish.
The 1.1 Coppa Agostoni is a tier below some of the other races here and two below the WorldTour Il Lombardia, meaning the startlist isn't as star-filled as other races. Hirschi and Tim Wellens head up a UAE squad, however, while Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) are among other names already confirmed.
Image 1 of 1
Coppa Agostoni 2024 route(Image credit: Coppa Agostoni)
October 7 – Coppa Bernocchi
Wout van Aert won the 2023 Coppa Bernocchi (Image credit: Getty Images)
Location: Legnano - Legnano
Length: 174.3km
Ascent: 1,969m
Level: 1.Pro
There's no let-up in the racing come Monday, with the Coppa Bernocchi near Milan hosting a third Classic in three days and another hilly challenge.
Like the Coppa Agostoni, the race begins and ends with a flat section in Legnano, while seven laps of a hilly circuit featuring the Piccolo Stelvio climb (1.7km at 5.8%) features as the toughest point of the race.
The climb doesn't put off versatile sprinters from taking the win, albeit from reduced groups at the line. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) won from a group of five last year, while Sonny Colbrelli, Phil Bauhaus and Davide Ballerini have won in the past.
Remco Evenepoel is the headline name on the startlist as the Belgian hopes to replicate his 31km solo victory from 2021. Few other teams have been confirmed at this stage, though Marc Hirschi, Filippo Baroncini and Tim Wellens line up for UAE Team Emirates.
Image 1 of 1
Coppa Bernocchi 2024 route(Image credit: Coppa Bernocchi)
October 8 – Tre Valli Varesine men & women
Liane Lippert won the 2023 Tre Valli Varesine Women (Image credit: Getty Imhges)
Location: Busto Arsizio - Varese
Length: 200.3km / 136.3km
Ascent: 3,377m / ?
Level: 1.Pro
The final warm-up for many of the major stars heading for Il Lombardia will be the 103rd Tre Valli Varesine, held in Varese, Lombardy. This year's race comes up four days before the final Monument of the season.
An early hilly run north from Busto Arsizio brings the peloton to the first circuit of the day, featuring the 2km at 5.3% hills of the Salita del Ronchi and Montello. The riders tackle eight laps of that before one-and-a-half laps of an extended closing circuit, which adds the climb of Barasso (900m at 7.9%) to the earlier circuit.
The women's race, meanwhile, is based around six-and-a-half laps of a circuit featuring the Montello climb in Varese, with the finish coming at the top of the hill.
Roglič, Pogačar and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) have all won the race in the past while Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep) and Liane Lippert (Movistar) are the reigning champions.
This time around, look out for Pogačar, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and the soon-to-retire Domenico Pozzovivo (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), while the lineup for the women's race has yet to be revealed.
Image 1 of 2
Tre Valli Varesine 2024 men's route(Image credit: Tre Valli Varesine)
Tre Valli Varesine 2024 women's route(Image credit: Tre Valli Varesine)
October 10 – Gran Piemonte
Andrea Bagioli won the 2023 Gran Piemonte (Image credit: Getty Images)
Location: Valdengo - Borgomanero
Length: 182km
Ascent: 1,650m
Level: 1.Pro
Gran Piemonte features a changeable route, morphing almost yearly from a sprinter-friendly race to being one for the puncheurs. Last year saw Andrea Bagioli (Soudal-QuickStep) beat Marc Hirschi to the win in an edition for the hill climbers.
Previous editions have seen Egan Bernal win at the summit finish of Oropa, Matthew Walls prevail from a sprint finish and Iván García Cortina triumph from a mid-race breakaway.
This year features another new route, one which should be suited to the versatile sprinters at the start line.
The Passo della Colma (8.7km at 5.4%) is the hardest challenge of the race at 63km from the line, while the final 45km feature a series of lighter hills – Cremosina (4.9km at 2.9%), Traversagna (3.1km at 4%) and Maggiora (800m at 5.6%).
Puncheurs and climbers on the 2024 start list include Marc Hischi, Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Richard Carapaz, while fast finishers include Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan).
Image 1 of 1
Gran Piemonte 2024 route(Image credit: Gran Piemonte)
October 12 – Il Lombardia
Tadej Pogačar won the 2023 Il Lombardia ahead of Andrea Bagioli and Primož Roglič (Image credit: Getty Images)
Location: Bergamo - Como
Length: 252km
Ascent: 4822m
Level: WorldTour
It's not the final WorldTour race of the season, but Il Lombardia is the last Monument of the year and the biggest, toughest and longest of these late-season Italian races.
Once again, the route flips back-to-front. For the 118th edition this year, the battle for the win will be played out on the road from Bergamo to Como, as it was in 2020 and 2022.
It doesn't take long for the climbing to begin this year, with the Forcellino di Bianzno (6.3km at 5.1%) bringing the first of the 4,822 metres of elevation on the route. The climbs of the Passo di Ganda (9.4km a 7%), the Colle di Berberino (4.5km at 6.2%) and Valpiana (10.4km at 6.1%) all follow inside the opening 105km.
A mid-race lull follows the descent from the Valpiana, before the climbing begins again 95km from the line with the Sella di Onigo (5.1km at 5.6%) and the famous ascent of the Madonna del Ghisallo (8.1km at 3.7%).
The toughest challenge of the final is the Colma di Sormano, the 13.1km, 6.5% climb which peaks with 42km to run. In a change from previous runs into Como, there's no Civiglio climb featuring late on this year, with the final difficulty being San Fermo della Battaglia (3km at 6.4%), just 6km from the finish line.
Tadej Pogačar has dominated the recent history of the race, winning two-up sprints against Fausto Masnada and Enric Mas in 2021 and 2022 before converting a 31km solo into a third win in a row last time out.
This year, he'll be taking aim at Alfredo Binda's quartet of wins, with the Italian lying one short of all-time record holder Fausto Coppi. Among those looking to prevent him from ending his historic season with another big victory will be Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič and 2019 winner Bauke Mollema, while he'll have Juan Ayuso and João Almeida riding in support of him.
Image 1 of 1
Il Lombardia 2024 route(Image credit: Il Lombardia)
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
