Zaugg solos to win in Lombardia

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Oliver Zaugg had never won the Giro di Lombardia before Saturday. Or indeed any Classic. Or for that matter a professional race of any description. The Swiss rider won't enjoy the comparison, but the 30-year-old Leopard-Trek rider's victory in Lecco on Saturday was a Lombardy upset in the Raimondas Rumsas or Vladislav Bobrik league.

On a course that lived up to the pre-race hype in beauty but perhaps not difficulty, Zaugg romped clear alone with a powerful attack on the Villa Vergano climb, 10 kilometres from the finish line in Lecco. Best of the rest was Garmin-Cervélo's Daniel Martin, whose sprint to pip Joaquin Rodriguez to second place underlined the Irishman's affinity for Lombardy and hilly one-day races in general. Zaugg's final winning margin was 15 seconds.

Martin could have few complaints. Zaugg's triumph came, as the French say, à la pédale. He proved the strongest rider in the crucial final kilometre of the Villa Vergano ascent, the so-called Muro dell'Alpino, and was faultless on the descent into Lecco. It was on the Muro dell'Alpino that many expected Philippe Gilbert to ride away to his third consecutive Lombardy title. But the world's number one rider seemed laboured, losing 20 seconds in less than a kilometre as the gradient reared up to 15 percent and dropping out of contention.

Ahead of Gilbert, a group comprising Przemyslaw Niemec, Domenico Pozzovivo, Ivan Basso, Martin and Rodriguez had also conceded too much time to trouble Zaugg on the run-in. Giovanni Visconti outsprinted Gilbert for seventh place but, if anything, was the more frustrated of the pair. "It's another opportunity thrown away," the Italian champion, riding his last race for Farnese Vini, cursed. "I didn't believe in myself and consequently took the Villa Vergano climb too far back. I chucked it away."

Most pundits argued that Vincenzo Nibali had also sabotaged his own chances. The Sicilian pandered to the calls for a rousing finale to a miserable season for Italian riders with an attack as exciting as it was unwise. The Liquigas captain had jumped at the foot of the Ghisallo, 55km from the finish, and soon built an advantage of nearly two minutes. Behind, though, Team Sky hit the front of a still sizeable peloton and reeled him in on the 16 kilometres of flat road before the start of the Villa Vergano climb. Sky's attempts to seize first place in the UCI World Tour team rankings from Gilbert's Omega-Pharma, alas, turned out to be in vain.

Nibali claimed that he was caught because of the restyled course, or at least hinted there was too much time for recovery between its three major obstacles - the Valcava, the Colma di Sormano and the Ghisallo. "It would have been different on last year's course," he said. He had a point but not an excuse. Like his old mountain domestique Zaugg, he had done his recces and liked what he had seen; unlike Zaugg, he had inexplicably decided that a single rider could escape on a route which alternated long climbs, long descents and long flat sections. Either that or he’d been terrified of what Gilbert might do on the Villa Vergano.

At least Nibali had tried. And finished - more than could be said of 150 riders who started in Milan. The five of HTC-Highroad's already threadbare sextet who had abandoned before the Colma di Sormano will have had their reasons, no doubt including fatigue. Maybe Lombardy should take place in September after all, as it will next year. But then there will be no HTC-Highroad in the peloton - and frankly a team of their record and stature owed itself a rather better send-off.

How it happened

After an eleven o'clock start in Milan, a six-man break had enlivened the early stages of a race billed as one of the toughest Tours of Lombardy in recent years. Claudio Corioni, Johan Van Summeren, Andrea Pasqualon, Yukiya Arashiro, Mikel Astarloza and Omar Bertazzo saw their advantage rise to over eight minutes before the feared Valcava climb, plummet to under two at the summit, then rise again to over six by kilometre 108. By this point, though, Liquigas and Nibali's intentions were already clear: under their impulse, the gap was down to less than two minutes again at the foot of the Colma di Sormano climb, with just over 100 kilometres remaining. It had evaporated altogether by the time Gilbert tried a few tentative accelerations at the end of the Colma’s descent.

These early skirmishes were Nibali's cue: he attacked as the leaders took drinks and a breather in Bellagio, and for a moment Gilbert, Jakob Fuglsang, Luca Paolini and Mauro Santambrogio were able to follow. Nibali then surged again. His suicide mission up the Ghisallo had begun. Gilbert, Fuglsang and the rest were happy to let him go, and the tifosi to revel in an illusion which lasted all of 30 kilometres.

The team Sky duo of Michael Rogers and Steve Cummings now assured the chase, handing over to Thomas Löfkvist as Nibali was caught before the first ramps of the Villa Vergano. Martin now looked strong on Löfkvist's wheel, as did Basso, but the speed nudged 30kph; all bets and attacks were off until the Muro dell'Alpino. Here Zaugg applied his coup de grâce. And what a coup - and surprise - it turned out to be.

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