Last race of the season

With the return to the traditional calendar and the cancellation of the World Tour races beyond the European continent, Il Lombardía will close the cycling season of the highest category this Saturday. The fifth Monument in chronological order will give off an exciting season on a new profile with many of the great names of the peloton.

Alejandro Valverde will take the start in his tenth edition of the great Autumn Classic, where he has been second three times (2013, 2014 and 2019) but that he couldn’t include in his large and varied record of victories. For its 2021 edition, RCS Sport has prepared a route of almost 240 kilometers between Como and Bergamo.

The race will link ports from kilometer 90 to face Roncola, Berbenno, Dossena, Zambla Alta and Passo de Ganda before a long descent to the outskirts of Bergamo, where the rides will find the final slope of Colle Aperto, located less than 4km from the finish line on Viale Giovanni XXIII.

Valverde, who has just finished second the GC in Il Giro di Sicilia and 10th in the historic Milano-Torino, will face a spectacular list of candidates, led by the recent world champion, Julian Alaphilippe, or the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, in great shape as demonstrated by his latest victories in Italy. Pogacar, Evenepoel, the Yates brothers or Nibali will not miss an appointment that will bring together one of the best participations of the year.

Photo: LaPresse