Felix Lowe
Eurosport’s Felix Lowe wonders if Il Lombardia will ever be anything more than the fifth Monument
Eurosport’s pro cycling blogger on why the seemingly out of place Il Lombardia is now the hipster’s Monument of choice – and why more pros should be taking it seriously
Listen carefully during Il Lombardia and you’ll hear (at least subliminally) the growl of Alice Cooper telling us that school’s out. But not for summer.
The fifth and final major Classic of the season takes its character from its position in the calendar – in both cycling and actual terms. During last year’s coverage of the race on ITV, commentator Ned Boulting referred to Il Lombardia as the ‘autumnal full-stop’ to the season, and there’s no denying the end-of-term vibe that shrouds the race.
When else but at the fag-end of the campaign would you see such tomfoolery as back in 1974, when Roger De Vlaeminck attacked early then hid under a bridge to let the peloton pass. Once back with the bunch, he sidled up to Eddy Merckx and asked his baffled rival who his team was chasing down so frantically. (Conquering the Cannibal in Como was the cherry on the cake.)
Nowadays, the ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’ overlaps with the final-day detention that is the Tour of Turkey and is bookended by extra-curricular geography field trips to Canada and China. Think of it as the last assembly for pedalling pupils before they hang up their boots for the winter and go home (or to Guangxi).
Last year this annual phenomenon, along with a nasty crash for defending champion Esteban Chaves, allowed me to open my Eurosport race preview with the line, ‘Chaves last week falling leaves the door open for a cluster of big-name riders’. Admittedly, this was rather clunky – the subs initially edited it out – but, once reinstalled, it did garner faint praise.
‘You deserve more than one retweet and six poxy likes for that,’ said one follower on Twitter. ‘I winced,’ said another.
This may seem a roundabout, trumpetblowing way of emphasising the autumnal dynamic of the race. But that, it seems, is Il Lombardia’s only real USP. If Milan-san Remo is about length, Roubaix the cobbles, Flanders the bergs, and Liège the punchy climbs, there’s a distinct lack of specifics with Lombardia.
While giving us one last hurrah before the winter, its place on the calendar hardly helps: come October most riders and fans are suffering season fatigue, the enthusiasm of the spring Classics and summer Tours long gone. Or, as a friend says, ‘However good the cheese and biscuits are, you’re always still reminiscing about the steak.’
Then there’s the actual race history. Running since 1905, it may be the Classic with the fewest interruptions in its lifetime, but constant route changes (these days it rotates finishes in Bergamo, Como or Lecco) have given what used to be known as the Giro di Lombardia (before that Milano-milano) an identity crisis. How many other Monuments have ever changed their name, never mind as recently as 2012?
It’s worth remembering what the race has to offer, though. For starters, it takes place in the most picturesque of settings, centred around the glistening waters of Lake Como – the Alpine swimming pool of choice for George Clooney and his Hollywood chums.
Il Lombardia has also been rebranded as the official Classic for climbers and GC contenders alike: three of last year’s top 10 – winner Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru and Nairo Quintana – are Grand Tour winners. That’s not something you see on the cobbles. What’s more, it often gives the new World Champion his first chance to parade those rainbow stripes (or would have done if Peter Sagan ever raced it).
Burgeoning interest in the preceding Italian races – the Giro dell’emilia, Tre Valli Varesini and Milano-torino – hardly hits the heights of Ardennes Week, but has given the Italian autumn fresh impetus. A remarkable revival now casts Il Lombardia as the hipster’s Monument of choice. And if more riders took a falling leaf from Nibali’s book, the season’s last Classic could be its best. Felix Lowe is a sucker for Italy in the autumn