Il Lombardia Live - Can Tadej Pogačar make it four in a row?

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All the action from the Race of the Falling Leaves, the final Monument of the 2024 season

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Il Lombardia route change - Passo Ganda removed, replaced by Selvino acscent (Image credit: RCS Sport)

Il Lombardia 2024 route - Route changed due to heavy rains, landslides and flooding

Il Lombardia 2024 - Analysing the contenders

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Here's a shot of our breakaway

The gap hits 4:20 now with 7km to the foot of the next climb. Christen is tiring at last for UAE.

106km to go

Worth noting that behind the two UAE henchmen, Movistar have taken a prominent position in the peloton. They're led by Enric Mas, who took Pogacar to a two-up sprint in Como two years ago. 

We're getting some glimpses of lakes now. Here's the map. It's Ghisallo from the south, then down to Belaggio and along Lake Como to take on the Sormano from the west. 

Rivera has gapped the rest of the break on that mini descent but they'll come back together and press on along the flat for the next 17km. 

3:35 now as the breakaway drop down the little descent in the middle of this long flat section that's so crucial to the development of what will or won't be a race-winning advantage. Pogacar is widely expected to take flight on the Sormano, and still has strong teammates to work on the Madonna di Ghisallo, so while the leaders have found a couple of minutes since the top of the Valpiana, they need at least a couple more. 

White shorts for Pogacar today... how do you like your world champs?

This has been the picture at the head of the peloton for a little while now - Christen and Fisher-Black leading the way for UAE. When they're done they still have Marc Hirschi, Pavel Sivakov, Adam Yates, and Rafal Majka to set up Pogacar. 

123km to go

The chaingang was rolling in two lovely lines but a couple of riders drop back to their cars and suddenly Fabbro pulls off the nose and no one comes through. 

The breakaway appear to have drummed up some sort of working alliance. There'll always be some passengers and soft-pedallers but enough riders are now turning through in a pretty fluid motion. 

134km to go

Let's have a little preview of our finale

At the summit of the Valpiana, the 21 leaders have 1:40 over the peloton. A 13km descent now, and then a 40km trip over to the lakes, where we'll take on our key climbs. As it stands, we have a strong breakaway but the UAE team of race favourite Tadej Pogacar have it under wraps.

150km to go

If anyone can challenge Pogacar, you'd think Evenepoel would be up there, but the Olympic champion hasn't been sounding his usual confident notes.

Tiberi has been spat out the back of the peloton. He's heading for a DNF today. He started so well, getting across the break in a very hard start, but he has completely blown up.

Tiberi is back in the bunch and that's a blow for Bahrain Victorious, who'd started this race so inventively getting three strong riders up the road. 

The pace is still modest in the break and half-way up this climb the gap drops to 1:48.

Tiberi has been dropped from the breakaway and that's a surprise as he's had a hell of a season would have been one of the most dangerous in the break, coming across to give Bahrain three riders in the move. But he's now back in the cars and swigging full-fat, full-fizz coke so might be having a bit of a hunger flat.

The gap stands at 2:15 on the lower slopes of the Valpiana. UAE have two riders on the front in Jan Christen and Finn Fisher-Black. There are 22 up the road but as ever with a group of that size, cooperation is always going to be a question mark. They appear to be riding steady here and will likely want to stick together over this climb as the following section could be key - a 13km descent followed by a 40km flat jaunt through the plains towards the lakes. That's where, if everyone worked together, they could attempt to pull out a decisive advantage. 

Onto the Valpiana climb now and it's another solid effort that will continue to drain the legs ahead of the key climbs later on.

Here's a shot of the action a little earlier - this was the chase group forming and eventually making its way over to the breakaway.

It is a pretty impressive breakaway, with big teams putting big names up the road, and it's pretty much the only option when it comes to trying to disarm Tadej Pogacar. Can UAE keep a lid on this? They've made a strong start, bringing the gap down to 1:45 already as we go over the top of the third climb and down the descent. If the front group works well together they'll have to burn a lot of riders just to keep things under control ahead of the key climbs later in the race.

Here's the composition of the new 22-rider breakaway

169.5km to go

The chase group has been let go by the peloton but can they reach the head of the race? They're closing in to within 30 seconds on this climb. Bahrain and Visma have riders in the lead group but strong riders in the chase who they'd love to have along. 

The leading 11 riders start the third climb of the day, the Colle di Berbenno (4.5 km at 6.2%).

175km to go

183km to go

In the chase we have:

A long descent now and the patterns are holding but the peloton is now more than a minute down on the front of the race. 

Over the top of the Selvino and the chase with Benoot and Eiking has swelled to 10.

200km

Is it finally settling behind? No. Tiesj Benoot goes off in the company of Odd Christian Eiking (Uno-X). UAE look calm as they tap it out but other teams are putting pressure on them with some strong riders.

With Prodhomme dropped, AG2R attempt to fire Bastien Tronchon up the road. He passes Rivera, as the Pidcock-less Ineos fail in their attempts to get a rider in the break. 

Here's the composition of the lead group

It's down to 12 now as Prodhomme and Rivera are dropped. The stronger climbers are aware they need to drive this open right here, with just under 4km to the top of the Selvino.

It might just be settling down now. The 14 riders out front have found 30 seconds on the bunch, which is being led by UAE. 

Tiberi, Martinez, and Scaroni make it on. Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R) is fighting to make it over next, and there's a bigger gap back to two more, and then the bunch. 

Still 6.5km to the top of the Selvino and we now have 10 riders in the lead but the peloton still under strain with new counter-attacks popping off. Dani Martinez and Antonio Tiberi hit out, and Scaroni tries to latch on. 

Fabbro and Dunbar have jumped into the lead group, Rubio is just getting on, but Scaroni and Masnada are flailing. 

Einer Rubio jumps across to that group and they're close to the front group now. 

The four in the chase are Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUl), Fausto Masnada (Soudal-QuickStep), Matteo Fabbro (Polti-Kometa), Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan).

The leading seven-man group only has around 15 seconds, with four left from the six chasers, and the peloton close at hand.

"I'm not stupid - it does look strange," says Ineos DS Zak Dempster in regards to Pidcock's sudden 'de-selection'. CN's Stephen Farrand spoke to him at the start and you can read the full comments at the link below.

210km to go

We now have another group of six in pursuit, and just when it looked like the peloton had called a truce, Rui Costa kicked it back off again. UAE won't be best pleased about that. One of their riders was just sitting up and stretching, and the traditional first nature break of the day was surely on the cards, but not anymore.

We've mentioned Kelderman, Mohoric, and Rochas but we also have an Ineos rider in Brandon Rivera, plus Lidl-Trek's Julien Bernard and DSM's Martijn Tusveld. It's an exclusively WorldTour break.

The peloton appears to be shutting down behind this move... whisper it but we may just have a breakaway on our hands.

Expert descender Mohoric is one of a number of riders to come back up to Kelderman and Rochas at the end of the downhill. Some big names here and they've quickly drummed up a strong working alliance. 

When you have such an outstanding favourite as Pogacar, it arguably encourages the other teams to try and get some of their higher-calibre riders up the road. Nearly 40km on the clock and it's still far from settled. 

Kelderman is part of a strong Visma line-up alongside Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot. The Dutch team also have Steven Kruijswijk, Bart Lemmen, and Attila Valter, but have had to start without Jan Tratnik, who's ill. 

Kelderman goes clear on the descent with Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) while the rest of that group are swallowed up.

225km to go

Into the final kilometre of the climb and we have a large group with a bit of a gap but they'll need to drive it open to make it stick on the downhill.

Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) pushes the pace on the climb as six riders go clear, but we still have surges from behind.

Pogacar is one of nine riders to win Lombardia three times. A fourth victory would put him level with Alfredo Binda, one short of the outright record holder, Fausto Coppi, who won it four years in a row then waited five to collect his fifth (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954).

White shorts for the world champ today. Here he was at the start with his UAE teammates. 

And now Swift and Bayer are brought back amid a surge in pace from behind. All back together. 

Masotto is dropped from the break.

231km to go

Mohoric is part of a dangerous move that's swelling off the front and we see a UAE rider jumping to mark it out. 

Valter has been brought back and we just have constant accelerations here. A trio goes clear in pursuit of Swift, Bayer, and Masotto, who are still working away 15 seconds ahead.

Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacks from the peloton and gets a gap. Rui Costa (EF) goes next, but then the domino effect comes and that could shut the whole thing down again.

We mentioned the increase in climbing in the first half of this route, so let’s take a closer look at what’s coming up. After 25km we have the Forcellino de Bianzano (6.3km at 5.1%) and while the Ganda has been scrapped, it has been replaced by what is still a proper climb in the form of the Selvino, very nearby and topping out at a similar altitude just below 1000 metres. 

Still nothing sticking with these attacks, and there aren't many teams who aren't showing an interest in today's break. Just Pogacar's UAE, it seems.

25 seconds is the lead for the three frontrunners. EF, Bahrain, Visma all looking to get involved in an active bunch behind.

Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) was a non-starter, due to illness. 

It hasn't settled down behind. Plenty of teams want a rider up the road, chief among them VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane.

It's Connor Swift for Ineos Grenadiers and he has snuck clear alongside Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Giulio Masotto (Corratec-Vini Fantini).

With no Pidcock, Ineos have a more open strategy and they're trying to get in the breakaway here. 

We're off

Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel at sign-on just now. He's the next biggest name beyond Pogacar. He'll be returning to the scene of his horror crash into a ravine at the 2020 Il Lombardia, with the Colma di Sormano making its return to the race for the first time since that day, albeit from the opposite direction. 

The riders are on the move, rolling out of Bergamo, and the race will kick off shortly.

Anyway, it’s no surprise that Pogacar headlines our Riders to Watch feature, but we also have nine other names to throw into the mix. Have a read:

There is one overwhelming favourite today and that’s Tadej Pogacar. Not only has he won the past three editions, covering both Bergamo to Como and the other way around, but he has had one of the greatest seasons of all time, winning the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, World Championship, and another Monument with Liege-Bastogne-Liege back in the Spring. If you thought the novelty was wearing off you only have to look at his astonishingly one-sided victory at the Giro dell’Emilia one week ago. Quite frankly, he’s making it look like a stroll in the park. Races like this should be hard-won things but right now it would almost be more surprising were he to lose. 

The route isn't the biggest piece of overnight news. No, that would be Tom Pidcock claiming he has been "de-selected" from the Ineos Grenadiers line-up. 

On the subject of the route, there have been some last-minute changes, due to landslides from the heavy rainfall that has hit northern Italy over the past week. Nothing drastic, but the finish line has been moved away from the shores of Lake Como, while one of the early climbs, the Passo di Ganda, has been replaced by the similarly-proportioned Selvino. 

We’re in Bergamo today, which means we’re heading to Como. Il Lombardia has developed the endearing tradition of flipping its two start and finish locations, so while there’s no finale up through the atmospheric walls of Bergamo Alto, this year we’ll see the Madonna del Ghisallo, Colma di Sormano, and San Fermo della Battaglia. We will not, however, see the Civiglio, with the vicious climb - usually coming as the penultimate test - ruled out due to landslides. That makes the finale a little less heavy than recent iterations of the Bergamo-Como route, but we do have more climbs in the first half of the race, meaning we’re still in for a total elevation gain in excess of 4,750 metres. 

The riders and teams have gathered in Bergamo for the start of this 118th edition of Il Lombardia. The roll-out is coming up at 10:35 local time, the start proper just five minutes after that. Six hours later, after 255km in the saddle, we’ll be calling the winner over the line. 

Here we are then. The leaves are falling, the season is in its final throes, and while there are a few more races to come in October, this is the last big one. It’s almost 120 years old, it’s one of cycling’s five Monument Classics, and it boasts a stellar start list that includes the new world champion, Tadej Pogacar. It’s Il Lombardia time, and we’ll have every inch of it covered right here. 

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of 2024 Il Lombardia.

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