Jonas Vingegaard has kept a low profile and enjoyed some time off since winning the Tour de France but the Dane will lead Jumbo-Visma at Il Lombardia on Saturday, hoping to again surprise his rivals and especially the pre-race favourite and 2021 winner Tadej Pogačar.
Vingegaard took a month off after being feted in Denmark for his Tour de France win, but he then trained quietly in Spain and showed he is on form, even in October, at the CRO Race in Croatia last week.
He missed out on overall victory on the final stage in the rain but won the two hardest stages with a show of ambition and determination.
"I like to race and it’s nice to be back in the racing routine and enjoy the racing rhythm," Vingegaard told Cyclingnews before Il Lombardia.
"There was a lot of talk about me not racing for a long time but we only took the Bretagne Classic off my programme just because I wasn’t ready," he added. "The World Championships didn’t suit me but Il Lombardia does, so it’s always been an end-of-season goal."
Pogačar is the big favourite for Il Lombardia and has a strong UAE Team Emirates squad to help him. Bora-Hansgrohe have Sergio Higuita and Aleksandr Vlasov, while Adam Yates leads Ineos Grenadiers and Julian Alaphilippe leads QuickStep-AlphaVinyl.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) will both enjoy a last dance at Il Lombardia and, given their form, could be part of a select group that should include Vingegaard.
After the CRO Race, Vingegaard travelled to northern Italy for Il Lombardia. He didn’t ride any of the other autumn Classics such as Tre Valli Varesine, where Pogačar showed his form again by winning the sprint. Vingegaard did his own thing, recovering from the efforts of the CRO Race and then carefully studying the Bergamo to Como race route.
The new finale includes a double climb of the San Fermo della Battaglia overlooking Como, and the steeper and longer Civiglio in between, where the decisive selection of the eventual contenders will be made.
"Jonas has shown that he is in good shape and he feels good. He appeared at ease and made some solid efforts during the recon ride," directeur sportif Addy Engels suggested.
"The start of the race is now the final from last year. That will be challenging right away. The final is always quite difficult, while the middle part looks much easier. I anticipate a strong group, with the favourites only appearing in the front in the final.
"It will explode on the first passage of the San Fermo della Battaglia. On the Civiglio, we must have one or two riders next to Jonas. After that, it’s up to him and a select group of top favourites who will fight for the win."
Vingegaard can count on support from new time trial world champion Tobias Foss, on-form veteran Robert Gesink, Australia’s Chris Harper, Dutch climber Sam Oomen, plus Gijs Leemreize and Koen Bouwman.
