{"id":5665,"date":"2023-10-10T11:33:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T09:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=5665"},"modified":"2023-10-10T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T09:33:57","slug":"bold-solo-ride-gives-pogacar-third-il-lombardia-win-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/10\/10\/bold-solo-ride-gives-pogacar-third-il-lombardia-win-in-a-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Bold Solo Ride Gives Poga\u010dar Third Il Lombardia Win in a Row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slovenian superstar Tadej Poga\u010dar won the year\u2019s final Monument race, the Il Lombardia, for the third year in a row when he made a signature solo breakaway of nearly 30 km and was never threatened by a tired pursuing group, which included his Slovenian compatriot and race co-favourite Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The two-time Tour de France winner crossed the finish line 52 seconds ahead of Soudal-QuickStep\u2019s Andrea Bagioli and Rogli\u010d, who was riding in his last race for his team of the past eight years, Jumbo-Visma. Bagioli was not the Soudal-QuickStep rider everyone expected to see on the podium. That was Remco Evenepoel, who had made winning the race a personal objective and had trained hard for it in the run-up. He crashed after only 21km had been raced on the 238km course from Como to Bergamo and appeared at first too badly hurt to continue. He remounted and, after making it back to the peloton, had his badly bleeding elbow bandaged. But he faltered on the race\u2019s penultimate climb, the Passo di Granda (9.3km @ 7.3%, with ramps of up to 15%), and finished 9th, 1:26 behind the winner.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar was, of course, delighted to end the year with a big win against many of the best riders on the road. He was also happy with how he won it. \u201cIt’s a dream to come solo,\u201d he said after the race. \u201cToday, it was fantastic. I was enjoying the last few kilometres even if it was so, so painful, I was enjoying it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was painful because his thighs began to cramp up with 11.5 km to go, and he punched them several times to try to relax the muscles. \u201cWhen I got cramps, I was thinking [that] this is not going to end well,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to lower the pace quite a bit and I tried to focus on being aero[dynamic] until the [final] climb and I crossed my fingers and hoped that behind me will not be great cooperation. I was confident that I could make it to the finish but, at the same time, you never know because after six hours of racing this little climb to the finish [the Colle Aperto] is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udc40Dentro la corsa! Godetevi Il Lombardia presented by @CA_Ita<\/a> dalla prima fila! <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc40 Inside the race! Enjoy the Il Lombardia presented by @CA_Ita<\/a> from the first row! <\/p>\n

Powered by @VelonCC<\/a>#iLombardia<\/a> #inLombardia<\/a> @inLOMBARDIA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cPHygostGe<\/a><\/p>\n

— Il Lombardia (@Il_Lombardia) October 8, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n