Il Lombardia Live - Pogacar beats Mas in season-closing duel

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Il Lombardia, the final Monument of 2022.

We're around 23 minutes away from the start of the race. This is what the riders will be taking on today.

Nine major hills on the route today, though the tough Muro di Sormano is missing for the second year in a row. 

This year's race has more climbing metres than any edition since 2016, though, at 4,852. That's almost 200 more than last year.

A handshake between two of the favourites – Pogačar and Vingegaard – ahead of the start.

Today brings the final races of two huge figures in the sport as Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde draw their careers to a close.

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Just a few minutes to go until the start of the race!

Here's a refresher on last year's result when Pogačar escaped with Fausto Masnada before beating the Italian in the final sprint. Check out our report here.

Four past winners on the start line today with Vincenzo Nibali, Bauke Mollema, Jakob Fuglsang, and Tadej Pogačar.

Here's what Vingegaard had to say ahead of the start today...

"I think I'm ready. The shape is good, I hope. I guess we'll see by the end of today how everything is going to turn out.

"It's nice. He's the best rider in the world so of course he's the man to beat. I'll try to do my best. He's better at one-day racing so far. I've never won a Monument and he's won two so that explains it.

"A hard race is in my favour, I think. I'll just have to do my best."

Something of a guard of honour for Nibali and Valverde as they ride arm in arm to the front of the peloton at the start in Bergamo. 

Those two and 173 others are lined up at the start. 48 of them are starting the race for the first time.

Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli's Santiago Umba is the youngest of them at 19 years old. At 42, Valverde is the oldest, of course, three years older than anyone else.

We're moments away from the start now.

And here we go! A 2.7km neutral zone to start.

The peloton rolling out of Bergamo currently.

253km to go

The flag is dropped and the racing is officially underway!

No attacks just yet.

And now they start after a kilometre of racing. Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli kick off the attacking.

Lotto Soudal, Israel-Premier Tech also up front, though it's the Italian ProTeam who have the most representation towards the head of the peloton.

250km to go

Astana, BikeExchange-Jayco, Movistar also with men towards the front.

Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic) gets a small gap.

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247km to go

Gesbert still hangs off the front with a few seconds on the peloton. Nobody else has jumped away with him yet.

A shot of the retiring Valverde and Nibali riding to the start.

242km to go

Still no breakaway just yet as numerous riders push on at the head of the peloton.

Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Simone Ravanelli (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Alex Tolio (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) now have a gap on the peloton.

Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) with an early mechanical problem and he gets a bike change.

Meanwhile, more attacks fly at the front of the peloton.

Scaroni, Ravanelli and Tolio continue to push on out front, meanwhile.

236km to go

Nobody has joined the trio of Italians in the lead just yet.

A 50kph average speed during these opening kilometres.

233km to go

23 seconds between the attacking trio and the peloton at the moment.

Sergio Martin (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Santiago Umba (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) among the riders now attacking.

And now Kamil Małecki (Lotto Soudal) tries.

230km to go

40 seconds to the peloton for the three leaders. Małecki is 25 seconds down.

Several more riders have clipped off the front of the peloton behind Małecki.

5km to go until the first climb of the day, the Forcellino di Bianzano.

Małecki is joined by Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Fernando Barceló (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Natnael Tesfatsion (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech), Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco), and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo).

227km to go

That group is 20 seconds down on the leaders and 30 up on the peloton.

The riders are on the Forcellino di Bianzano now.

Filippo Conca (Lotto Soudal) is out of the race. He was at his team car not so long ago.

The leading trio. The chase group are right behind them now.

The group is all together at the front now but the riders are only 25 seconds up on the peloton.

Barceló and Małecki struggling to hold on to the attacking group on the climb now.

224km to go

30 seconds is the gap.

UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, Movistar, Bora-Hansgrohe all with riders at the head of the peloton.

On the way down the other side of the climb now and it's 43 seconds for the attack group.

9km to go until the riders hit the Passo di Ganda, the longest climb of the race. That was the penultimate climb last year.

219km to go

A look at the retiring pair of Nibali and Valverde from the start today.

Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën) has attacked from the peloton.

The breakaway is established now as they have 1:40 on the peloton. Paret-Peintre continues to plug away in between the groups.

The gap continues to grow to two minutes. Paret-Peintre is a minute behind.

214km to go

The full breakaway...

Luca Covili, Alex Tolio (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Natnael Tesfatsion, Simone Ravanelli (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech), Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan)

Paret-Peintre is going to have a big task on his hands if he's to make it across. Meanwhile the peloton has knocked it off with the gap to the break reaching three minutes.

The riders reach the Passo di Ganda (9.2km at 7.3%).

210km to go

3:30 between the break and the peloton. Paret-Peintre is 40 seconds down now – he's making some headway.

A 42.8kph average speed so far.

Paret-Peintre makes it across to the breakaway. 10 men up front now.

208km to go

Four minutes back to the peloton now on the Passo di Ganda.

Here's what 2019 winner Bauke Mollema had to say at the start...

"To win will be really diff. It's hard to say if I have the legs again like two years ago but I'm feeling good this last week. Training went well and Tre Valli Varesine went well.

"I hope to be up there in the final. I like this course to Como so we'll see.

"It'll be a hard race with so much climbing. The first 100km are already really hard. Then it's a bit more flat to Madonna del Ghisallo and the speed might be even harder. Then Civiglio is so hard and the best climbers will automatically be in front there."

4:35 between the break and peloton now as the riders continue up the climb.

Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) off the rear of the peloton as several riders drop away.

205km to go

2km from the top for the break.

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203km to go

The breakaway riders near the top of the Passo di Ganda now. 5:20 back to the peloton.

Now onto the descent. Not much downhill before the riders hit the climb of Dossena followed by a longer descent.

And the riders pass the 200km to go marker.

Movistar are leading the way in the peloton. The Spanish squad have two candidates for victory in Valverde and Enric Mas.

195km to go

4:45 for the breakaway.

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Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates also working in the peloton along with Movistar.

The riders approach Dossena now. The climb is 5.5km long at an average of 4.9%.

190km to go

The breakaway all together on the descent. Małecki and Barceló the only riders from the attack who aren't in there having been dropped earlier.

A quiet period in the race now after the establishment of the breakaway.

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert also up front in the peloton alongside the big three squads of Movistar, UAE Team Emirates, and Jumbo-Visma.

The breakaway are cruising to the top of Dossena, 3:30 up on the peloton.

181km to go

A look at the breakaway.

2:50 for the breakaway as they race down the descent.

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174km to go

Elissonde having a bit of trouble keeping in touch with the break around some of these corners but the break remains all together.

The peloton holding the gap to the break at just 2:50 now.

A rare moment of flat road for the riders now but they'll be heading back uphill soon on the way to the climb of Forcella di Bura.

165km to go

The break's advantage has gone up a little on the flat. They have 3:30 now as UAE, Jumbo and Movistar control the pace in the peloton.

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They're climbing again now to the village of Olda now, then a short descent before the climb to the Forcella di Bura.

160km to go

3:30 between the breakaway and peloton at the moment.

A look at the peloton taking on the hills of Lombardy.

A crash in the peloton as the riders tackle the quick, short descent to the start of the Forcella di Bura. Riders from Eolo-Kometa and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA were on the ground.

Mikel Nieve was the Caja Rural rider who crashed. The Spaniard was riding the final race of his career today but he's abandoned following the fall.

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150km to go

2:25 between break and peloton.

No change in situation on the climb with Movistar leading the peloton at 2:15 down on the breakaway.

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Domenico Pozzovivo has crashed! The Italian has a badly torn jersey and shorts.

Pozzovivo had big tears to the front of his jersey and shorts after going down on the descent off Forcella di Bura. He was on his feet but holding his right elbow.

135km to go

Pozzovivo is out of the race following that crash.

The Colle di Berbenno now for the riders as they climb once again. It's 4.4km at 6.3%.

Tolio is struggling at the rear of the breakaway.

132km to go

Two minutes back to the peloton.

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Elissonde once again struggling on the way down the descent.

120km to go

Despite the travails of Elissonde and Tolio, the breakaway 10 are all still together as they hit the flats.

No major climbs for 50km now. The next one is the Madonna del Ghisallo.

A natural break for the peloton and the gap goes back out to 2:35 and counting.

Lorenzo Fortunato was the Eolo-Kometa rider caught in the Nieve crash. The pair of Giro d'Italia stage winners have both been forced to abandon.

115km to go

Jonas Vingegaard is back at the Jumbo-Visma car for some assistance as the break takes a three-minute lead.

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110km to go

The gap from break to peloton is 3:15 now and still edging out. They're on the long, flat run to the south-east 'leg' of Lake Como and the next climb of Madonna del Ghisallo now.

105km to go

UAE, Jumbo, and Movistar continue to lead the way in the peloton. Three minutes to the break.

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2:30 for the breakaway now as the riders race along the flat run.

Craddock and Tesfatsion come back to the group after a brief spell off the back.

91km to go

Around 30km left to run until the riders hit the Madonna del Ghisallo.

After going back up on the descent, the gap to the peloton is only coming down again now as the big teams speed up and control the race.

The break has 1:25 right now.

The break will be caught before the Madonna del Ghisallo at this rate.

7km to go until the start of the climb and there's just 25 seconds between break and peloton.

77km to go

The riders are racing alongside Lake Como at the moment as they head north towards the climb.

And now it's over for the breakaway, a massive 70km from the finish!

Ineos Grenadiers at the front of the peloton now pushing on towards the climb.

8.6km at 6.2% – here we go!

Riders out of the rear of the peloton already, Tobias Foss surprisingly included, as the gradient and pace bite.

68km to go

Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates driving the pace on the front.

Four men for Jumbo-Visma, six men for UAE Team Emirates.

7.5km from the top of the climb.

Jonas Vingegaard said he wanted a hard race and Jumbo-Visma are trying to make it one.

Sam Oomen and Chris Harper leading the way for Vingegaard.

67km to go

Robert Gesink has done his work and dropped off. Koen Bouwman isn't up there either.

Matej Mohorič among the latest batch of riders dropped.

Only Enric Mas and Alejandro Valverde remain for Movistar now. After all the work they had done earlier as well...

Vincenzo Nibali has Miguel Angel López for company, meanwhile.

Both Astana and Movistar lie behind Jumbo and UAE at the front.

Riders falling out the rear of the peloton all the time, but no big favourites in trouble yet.

63km to go

Harper still pushing the pace at the front. The riders are on the flat mid-section of the climb before the final ramp to the famous chapel at the top.

And now UAE Team Emirates take over the front with five men working for Tadej Pogačar.

João Almeida leading the way at the front.

60km to go

The peloton passes the chapel/museum at the top of the climb.

QuickStep-AlphaVinyl leader Julian Alaphilippe was just about dropping away near the top. He could be the first major favourite to fall out of contention today. Three climbs to go.

Jumbo-Visma burnt most of their riders on the Madonna del Ghisallo. UAE Team Emirates with the numerical advantage.

Alaphilippe's group has got back on now after dropping to just over 10 seconds back over the top.

54km to go

On to a flat section following the descent now. The next climb is San Fermo della Battaglia, 27km from the finish.

More riders get back on, including a few for Astana and Jumbo-Visma.

46km to go

Almeida continues to pull the group.

Not much happening at the moment – UAE Team Emirates continue to control on the flat roads here.

It's not pan flat, of course, but lumpy rather than the big hills the riders have been tackling.

Almeida pulls off the front after his long spell of work. UAE continue to control as Bora-Hansgrohe, DSM, and Movistar move up too.

Bike change for Tao Geoghegan Hart.

Jumbo-Visma now back to the front with Robert Gesink, who came back after being dropped.

A lot of big teams lined up across the road.

30km to go

A bit of a split on a descent there but things are coming back together.

30km to go

The riders are about to hit San Fermo della Battaglia for the first of two ascents.

And immediately riders fall out the rear of the group. Mohorič, Jay Vine, Bettiol...

UAE Team Emirates back on the front.

It's one-and-a-half laps of this mini-circuit now.

San Fermo della Battaglia, finish line, Civiglio, San Fermo della Battaligia, finish line.

Four men working for Pogačar.

A hard pace up the climb but no major favourites in trouble.

27km to go

Over the top and on the way to Civiglio now. Attacks coming there?

Just a short descent before the riders hit that climb.

Here's a look at the climb.

Hirschi, Formolo, Ulissi, Majka still there for Pogačar.

The riders pass under the 3km to go banner as they head to the finish in Como for the first time.

22km to go

Through the finish line and it's UAE, Bora and DSM at the front.

Here's Civiglio! 4.2km long at an average of 9.7%

Marc Hirschi and Wilco Kelderman drop out the back of the peloton after finishing their work.

Alaphilippe is up near the front now after getting in trouble earlier on.

Suddenly Alaphilippe is out the back! Ilan Van Wilder and Mauri Vansevenant remain for QuickStep-AlphaVinyl.

20km to go

Vincenzo Nibali is dropped.

It's still Bora and UAE up front.

Only around 20 men left at the front now!

Dani Martínez, Vansevenant and Barguil the next to drop. Mollema also struggling.

Formolo working at the front now after Bora's Fabbro pulls off.

A huge pace being put on and now Pogačar attacks!

Mas is the only man with him!

Landa behind and Vingegaard wasn't with them in the first place after Formolo's acceleration.

19km to go

It's just Pogačar and Mas at the front. 

Formolo blew the group apart there. Only a few riders could go with him and then only Mas could go with Pogačar.

Landa comes back.

Vingegaard has Higuita for company further back.

Looks like there's around 15 seconds between the front groups.

Mas attacks. Pogačar responds.

Landa is dropped.

Pogačar and Mas are definitively the strongest men going uphill today.

18km to go

10 seconds to Landa. Vingegaard and Higuita are 35 seconds down.

Bardet is with Higuita now. Vingegaard has dropped back to a larger chase group with numerous other favourites.

Pogačar leading Mas at the front now.

The situation at the moment....

Mas, Pogačar > Landa > Bardet, Higuita > other favourites

17km to go

Landa still 10 seconds down. 30 to the next group.

16km to go

Now Landa is back with Pogačar and Mas as they reach the top of the climb.

Mas leads Pogačar and Landa on the way down. The next group is at 40 seconds now.

14km to go

It looks like these three are set to fill the podium today.

The chase group includes: Higuita, Molard, Yates, Rodríguez, Vingegaard, Valverde, Bardet, Mollema, and Ciccone.

12km to go

35 seconds between the two groups.

10km to go

Mas, Landa and Pogačar roll through on the flat run towards the final climb and second ascent of San Fermo della Battaglia.

45 seconds between the groups now. We're ready for the final climb showdown!

Higuita and Rodríguez have clipped off the front of the chase group.

8km to go

San Fermo della Battaglia again!

No attacks yet...

Pogačar hits the front. Landa behind him and Mas.

Higuita and Rodríguez at 40 seconds. They have 20 on the next, larger group.

Pogačar continues to lead Mas and Landa.

7km to go

Now Mas to the front.

1700 metres to the top of the climb.

The second chase group is totally out of it now. Higuita and Rodríguez chipping away a few seconds to get to 35 down.

Vingegaard and Ciccone out the rear of the main chase group.

6km to go

Mas attacks!

Pogačar follows but has to battle to stay with the Spaniard. Landa is gone.

Mas and Pogačar together again. 

Of course, Mas beat Pogačar in the recent Giro dell'Emilia.

Pogačar gives an effort towards the top but Mas easily stays with him.

5km to go

Landa at 18 seconds. The chasers at 50 seconds.

Mas looks stronger than Pogačar again today but the likely two-man sprint finish is another matter entirely.

4km to go

Both stick together on the descent.

It's downhill until 1400 metres to go.

Landa still racing at 10 seconds down.

3km to go

No change in situation as Mas hits the front.

2km to go

Landa is chipping away a little. Eight seconds now.

The lead duo come towards the bottom of the descent.

Mas keeps taking turns at the front, though in the sprint he's a distinct second favourite. Maybe just to keep Landa away and guarantee at least second place.

1km to go

Pogačar leads the way.

Mas waiting on the wheel for the sprint.

Final 250 metres and the sprint is launched!

Mas goes first and Pogačar responds.

Result

Tadej Pogačar has won Il Lombardia once again!

The Slovenian had too much in the final sprint for Mas, as expected.

A good effort from the Movistar leader, though.

Landa third, Higuita fourth, Rodríguez fifth.

Valverde leads the chase group home at almost 1:30 down. 

Nibali crosses the line at over two minutes down.

Mas gave it a go in the sprint but he never got ahead of Pogačar in that final sprint, going by the overhead images.

Here's what Pogačar said after his victory...

"It's really amazing to come back and to repeat the victory. The teamwork today, I can't say how grateful I am for the team – they did such an amazing job. To pull it for the last race of the season is amazing.

"The race went just how we wanted. I tried to attack on Civiglio but Mas was clearly on the same level as me on the climb. We tried to co-operate until the final so it went perfect.

"In Emilia I was straight from Australia and every day since then I've felt better. Already in Tre Valli I felt great, so I knew today would be good legs.

"I would say almost perfect," he added, summing up his season.

Pogačar celebrates his win in Como.

The finishing shot of the two-man sprint.

Mikel Landa speaks after his third place...

"I'm super happy. I really love this race but I never arrive in the best shape. This time I arrived well.

"At one moment I thought maybe if they looked between them I could surprise. But on the climbs I was less than them and it was difficult.

"Today Valverde stopped, the best Spanish rider of the last years, and now we're again two Spanish riders on the podium. It's good for Spanish cycling."

Landa and Mas take the podiums now as Pogačar is crowned champion for the second year in a row.

These two were inseparable until the final sprint today. 

A look back at that finish!

Pogačar celebrates with his second Il Lombardia trophy in as many years.

The final podium of the year's final WorldTour race!

We'll have plenty of news coming in from the race this evening so keep an eye out for reaction live from Como.

Check out our race report, complete with photo gallery and results, here

A great end to a great 2022 WorldTour season!