Il Lombardia Bergamo, Italy
9 OCTOBER 2021
Tadej Pogačar grins as he puts in one of his final efforts of the season, up the Colle Aperto in Bergamo. The climb is the final test of Il Lombardia 2021, coming close to the end of the 239km monument. The Slovenian is followed by Fausto Masnada, who joined the solo leader with 16km to go; Pogačar had been away from 36km to go, since the Passo di Ganda, which was the penultimate climb of the race. The effort needed to power up the Colle Aperto can be seen on both rider’s faces, but particularly that of Masnada, who would end up being beaten in the sprint by Pogačar. At just 23, the Slovenian became the first rider to win Lombardia and the Tour de France in the same season since Bernard Hinault in 1979, and became the third rider to win the Tour and two monuments in the same season, following Eddy Merckx and Fausto Coppi. Masnada was following team orders to not work with the Slovenian, as he had teammate Julian Alaphilippe in the chasing group, but this had little impact in the end.