2024 Il Lombardia Race Preview
The details of this year's 2024 Il Lombardia are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
The roads around the lakes of Lombardy will once again serve as the backdrop for cycling's final monument of the season, a race steeped in melancholy beauty and brutal climbs that has long been known as the Race of the Falling Leaves. The 2024 edition promises another compelling chapter in a monument that rewards the complete rider, one capable of surviving relentless punching climbs before summoning something extraordinary in the final kilometres.
Tadej Pogacar arrives as the overwhelming favourite, and it would be difficult to argue against the Slovenian's credentials. His performances throughout 2024 have been nothing short of extraordinary, winning what feels like everything he has entered, and his palmares at this race already includes victories that demonstrated both his tactical intelligence and his raw devastating power. He is the kind of rider Lombardia seems designed for, comfortable on the steep gradients of the Madonna del Ghisallo and capable of attacking repeatedly until his rivals simply have nothing left to offer.
The climbs themselves will once again be the decisive factor. The Civiglio, the San Fermo della Battaglia and whichever final arrangement the organisers have chosen will demand that riders have saved something from the earlier kilometres while also having been active enough to sit in a viable position approaching the closing moments.
Rivals will look to Remco Evenepoel, who understands this race intimately after his own victories here, and Jonas Vingegaard should he arrive in good condition. The Colombians and the climbing specialists of the peloton will sense an opportunity in the thin mountain air, but ultimately the question the race asks is a simple one. Can anyone stop Pogacar.
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