Tadej Pogacar makes history with fifth straight Il Lombardia victory

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed a record-equalling fifth edition of Il Lombardia on Saturday after yet another dominant performance, finishing once more in a world of his own in Bergamo.

Launching his race-winning move with 36.5 km remaining on the Passo di Ganda, Pogačar didn’t look back as he blitzed across to Quinn Simmons (Lidl–Trek), quickly dispatching the American who had been out front on a long-range solo effort earlier in the race.

It’s a tale that the world of cycling has become well accustomed to, Pogačar soloing to victory in emphatic fashion, with plenty of time to soak in his achievement, this time in the stunning region of Lombardy. 

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was able to distance Simmons and Michael Storer (Tudor) on the descent of the Passo di Ganda to find himself in a familiar position, ending second on the day after another strong performance, his final outing in the colours of the Belgian team before he embarks on a new era in 2026 with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

Storer claimed the best one-day result of his career with a fine ride to take third, and stand on a prestigious podium alongside the World and Olympic Champion. Meanwhile, Simmons delivered one of the rides of the day to take 4th. 

Pogačar now stands alongside Fausto Coppi in the history books of the race of the falling leaves, with five editions in his collection, maintaining his 100% win rate at Il Lombardia.

In the process, the World Champion became the first rider to win five consecutive editions of any monument in history, illustrating his current authority over the peloton. Pogačar is now also up to double figures in terms of monument victories, now on 10, with only Roger De Vlaeminck on 11 and Eddy Merckx on 19 ahead.

There was a big fight for the breakaway and in the end, a strong group of 14 riders drew clear including Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Thibaut Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Filippo Ganna, Lucas Hamilton and Victor Langellotti (Ineos Grenadiers), Walter Calzoni (Q365.), Asbjørn Hellemose and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla).

A crash occurred in the peloton with 225km to go involving a handful of riders, with Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) one of those who went down.

Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) suffered a crash on the descent of the Madonna del Ghisallo with 196km remaining, but the British rider was quick to get back on his bike and continue, shortly returning to the peloton.

A combination of pace-setting by UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe kept the breakaway in check, and with 120km remaining, the peloton split on the descent of the Roncola climb. The two split groups reunited on the Berbenno ascent with 113km remaining.

With 82km to go, and multiple members of the breakaway having been distanced, Simmons went on a solo attack. The American champion built up over a minute on a chase group featuring Bilbao, Ganna, Vervaeke, and Matthews.

On the Zambla Alta, plenty of strong riders were distanced from the peloton, including Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), with the gap to Simmons at 3 minutes with 60km remaining.

Simmons's advantage on the Passo di Ganda was 2:40, but because UAE Team Emirates-XRG set a vicious pace on the lower slopes, the gap whittled quickly with work from the retiring Rafał Majka, as well as Jay Vine.

A group formed including Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Michael Storer (Tudor), and Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

With 36.5km remaining, Pogačar dashed clear from the select group, with Del Toro going to the back of the group to let Evenepoel do the chase. 

Pogačar made light work of closing in on Simmons, with the American champion latching onto the back wheel, knowing if he could make it to the summit, a podium would be on the cards. However, Simmons could only hold onto the wheel of the World Champion for a few hundred metres before seeing Pogačar ride off into the distance.

As Evenepoel increased the pace, Seixas lost contact with the chase group, but the 19-year-old fought bravely to try to rejoin the trio of the Olympic champion, Del Toro and Storer.

Just shy of the summit, Del Toro was distanced from Evenepoel and Storer, who shortly after made contact with Simmons as the riders reached the crest, though Evenepoel attempted to go clear, but Simmons and Storer hung on to the Belgian.

Evenepoel was able to distance Simmons and Storer one-by-one on the descent, to leave the Belgian in a familiar position fighting for second behind Pogačar.

Heading onto the final kicker to Colle Aperto, Pogačar’s advantage was 1:30 over Evenepoel, with Storer at 2:00. Meanwhile, Del Toro and Simmons, who joined forces on the descent, made up the fourth group on the road.

In the end, Pogačar cruised to victory in Bergamo, with Evenepoel and Storer soloing in for 2nd and 3rd respectively, whilst Simmons was rewarded for his brave ride with an excellent 4th place finish.