The 2021 WorldTour season draws to a close on Saturday October 9 with the 115th edition of Il Lombardia, the last chance for riders to add a big win to their palmarès this season.
Despite the race falling in mid-October, the start list is packed with big names this year, with the 239-kilometre ride from Como to Bergamo set to be one of the most hotly contested editions of recent years.
Cyclingnews will be bringing you live coverage during the race. We will also be bringing you full reports, results, news, interviews, and analysis throughout the weekend. Read on to find out how to watch Il Lombardia via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN (opens in new tab).
2020 champion Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) isn't racing due to a fractured collarbone, but Tour de France and Vuelta a España champions Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) are both racing, as is world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
The trio also come armed with some of the strongest teams at the race. Alaphilippe will be joined by Remco Evenepoel a year on from his horrific accident as well as João Almeida. Roglič will have Jonas Vingegaard and George Bennett for company, while Pogačar is joined by Juan Ayuso and Diego Ulissi. Bahrain Victorious, meanwhile, bring Mikel Landa, Jack Haig, and Dylan Teuns.
Several past winners will be at the race, with Trek-Segafredo duo Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke Mollema lining up, as well as Esteban Chaves (Team BikeExchange), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), who is riding the last race of his career.
Several powerful duos taking part include Romain Bardet and Michael Storer (Team DSM), Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech), Emanuel Bwuchmann and Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rigoberto Urán and Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo), and Nairo Quintana and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic).
Other names to watch include David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën).
The race route this year hads from Como to Bergamo for the first time since 2016, following four years of heading in the other direction. The famous Madonna del Ghisallo lies first on the course, with tough tests such as Roncola Alta (9.4km at 6.7 per cent), Dossena (11.1km at 6.1 per cent), and the Passo di Ganda (9.3km at 7.1 per cent) lying in wait later on before the final test of the Colle Aperto, three kilometres from the line.
Il Lombardia live stream
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab) for alerts on important stories, news, interviews and all the action during Il Lombardia.
Il Lombardia kicks off at 10:20 CEST on October 9 and is expected to finish at around 16:58.
The race will be aired around Europe and select countries around the world on Eurosport and Eurosport Player (opens in new tab). You can sign up for a subscription (opens in new tab) to Eurosport Player for £6.99 / $9.26 for a month, £4.99 / $6.61 for a year-long monthly pass, or £39.99 / $52.99 for a 12-month pass.
Coverage in the USA – as well as the UK, Canada, Australia, and select countries around Europe – is available via GCN+ (opens in new tab), on the GCN app, Access in the UK will set you back £39.99 for a year.
Host broadcaster RAI (opens in new tab) will air the race in Italy, while L'Equipe (opens in new tab) hold the rights in France and Sporza (opens in new tab) hold the rights in Belgium.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
Our sister site TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With ExpressVPN (opens in new tab), you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Il Lombardia schedule
| Date | Time (CEST) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| October 9 | 10:20 – 16:58 | Como – Bergamo |
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1