Tadej Pogacar retained his Il Lombardia crown on Saturday as biking icons Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde each ended their careers within the remaining monument race of the season.
You can rewatch the total race HERE
Pogacar held off Enric Mas in a two-man duel to the road after a 253-kilometre run between Bergamo and Como to realize revenge for his current loss to the Spaniard within the Giro dell’Emilia.
Mikel Landa accomplished the rostrum after failing to maintain tempo with the main pair, who went after one another aggressively in an entertaining finale.
The win was the two-time Tour de France champion’s seventh main win of the season and closed off a marketing campaign which Pogacar described as “almost perfect”.
“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,” stated Pogacar. “To pull it for the last race of the season is amazing.”
There was no dream end for Nibali, certainly one of simply seven riders to have received all three Grand Tours and likewise a two-time winner of Il Lombardia. The “Shark of Messina” completed again in twenty fourth place after chucking up the sponge on the Civiglo climb in the direction of the top of the race.
Valverde closed out a profession which introduced one Grand Tour – the 2009 Vuelta a Espana – and a bunch of one-day titles together with the 2018 World Championships, with a sixth place end, over a minute behind Pogacar.
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