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finish line has been moved away from the shores of Lake Como, while one of the early climbs, the Passo di Ganda, has been replaced by the similarly-proportioned Selvino.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 Cycling News’ live coverage of 2024 Il Lombardia.

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