2020 Tour of Lombardy Race Preview
The details of this year's 2020 Tour of Lombardy are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
The final monument of the season arrives with the Tour of Lombardy, that most melancholy and beautiful of races, winding through the lakes and mountains of northern Italy as the autumn leaves begin to fall. Il Lombardia, as the Italians call it, has long been known as the Race of the Falling Leaves, and the 2020 edition promises to live up to its reputation as one of cycling's most demanding and emotionally resonant occasions.
This year's race takes place on the fifteenth of August, an unusual midsummer slot forced upon the organisers by the disruption caused by the global pandemic that has reshaped the entire sporting calendar. The familiar autumnal backdrop will therefore be absent, but the roads, the climbs, and the suffering will be every bit as brutal as tradition demands.
The route covers around 231 kilometres starting in Bergamo, a city that was among the hardest hit in Italy during the early weeks of the pandemic, lending this edition a particular emotional weight. The race finishes in Como, returning to the traditional finish after last year's conclusion in Bergamo. The peloton will tackle the legendary climbs that define this race, including the Madonna del Ghisallo, that most sacred of cycling's shrines, and the brutal Civiglio before the final descent into Como.
The man everyone will be watching is Primoz Roglic, who arrives in superb form after his overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine. The Slovenian has shown himself to be a climber of the very highest class and will be among the firm favourites. His Jumbo-Visma team have the firepower to control the race and set him up perfectly for the finale.
Jakob Fuglsang has demonstrated throughout this shortened season that he is in the form of his life. The Dane won Strade Bianche earlier in this compressed calendar and has the climbing ability and the tactical intelligence to be deeply dangerous in the hills above the lake. His Astana team will be motivated and aggressive.
Defending champion Bauke Mollema will be keen to show that his 2019 victory was no fluke. The Trek-Segafredo rider is a superb one-day racer and knows how to read a race beautifully. He will not be underestimated by any rival with any sense.
One cannot overlook the claims of Vincenzo Nibali, whose love affair with this race is well documented. The Shark of the Messina has won Lombardy twice before and races with a special hunger on these roads. Whether his legs can match his desire at this stage of his career remains the question, but one dismisses Nibali in his home territory at considerable peril.
Michael Woods of EF Pro Cycling is an intriguing outsider. The Canadian climber has been in fine form and possesses the pure uphill speed to trouble the very best on the steepest gradients. Races like this one suit his characteristics admirably.
The weather is expected to be warm, adding another dimension to the race and perhaps favouring those with a slightly more rouleur quality to their climbing. The pace is likely to be fierce from an early stage given the competitive nature of the shortened season and the desire of every team to take a victory of this magnitude before the year is out.
Lombardy always produces a race of genuine drama and beauty. The roads narrow, the crowds press close, and somewhere on those lakeside climbs the race will be made and broken. It promises to be a fitting finale to a cycling season unlike any other.
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