Bergamo (Italy) (AFP)
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), who won the Tour de France earlier this year, won the 115th edition of the Tour of Lombardy in Bergamo on Saturday, the last great classic of the cycling season.
Winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, Pogacar won two "monuments" in the same season, in addition to the Tour de France which he won in July for the second time.
The Slovenian settled in a two-man sprint the Italian Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck) after 239 kilometers.
Briton Adam Yates (Ineos) took 3rd place, 51 seconds behind Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo), Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and French Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck), the world champion who s' is ranked 6th, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (DSM).
The race, under the autumn sun, took shape in the passo di Ganda (9.2 km at 7.3%), at the start of the last 40 kilometers, where the peloton still dense despite the hilly course until there has been drastically reduced.
Pogacar, who went on the attack 35 kilometers from the finish, secured a lead of around 30 seconds over a group of favorites made up of Adam Yates, Alaphilippe, Roglic, Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Valverde, Bardet, Gaudu, Masnada and Vingegaard (Jumbo).
Behind the winner of the Tour, Masnada set off on his own on a counter-attack on roads he knows perfectly well.
The Bergamasque joined him at the bottom of the long and winding descent, 15 kilometers from the finish but did not relay him afterwards.
For lack of agreement, the group of pursuers allowed the gap to widen again (45 seconds per 6 km).
Up front, Pogacar and Masnada stayed together on the last climb, to reach the upper town of Bergamo, before the Slovenian easily took over the Italian in the sprint.
"It's just crazy to end the season like this!" Pogacar exulted.
"When I attacked, I thought others would come with me."
The 23-year-old Slovenian is the first Tour de France winner to go on to win the Tour of Lombardy since Bernard Hinault in 1979.
© 2021 AFP