There was no Tour de France victory for Tadej Pogačar in 2022 but he ended his season with another monument victory at Il Lombardia. He had the satisfaction of ending on a high, with the motivation to be even better in 2023.
"I can draw a line under my whole year and be motivated for 2023, I can also relax and enjoy the off-season, I deserved it," Pogačar said post-race.
"It was really important that we brought it home and that I finished it off. We won Il Lombardia, the final monument and the final big race of the season, it doesn't get much better than that. I had to finish it off and win, especially after all the work my teammates did here and all the work everyone at the team has done for me this year."
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Pogačar and Mas emerged on the steep Civiglio climb, swapping attacks and then working together. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) bravely fought back every time Pogačar and Mas attacked and dropped him but the final sprint along the shores of Lake Como was a two-rider affair.
Mas had managed to drop Pogačar last week on the uphill finish at the Giro dell'Emilia but Il Lombardia was a long, harder race. Pogačar also had an extra week to recover from the long journey to the World Championships in Australia and had the support of a strong UAE Team Emirates squad, who protected him until his attack on the Civiglio.
"I was still recovering last week but I was good at Tre Valli Varesine and so was the team, so we went into Il Lombardia clearly believing we could be the strongest. It was a close battle with Enric and he had a fantastic season too."
"It would have been perfect to go away alone on the Civiglio and win alone but Mas was really strong but I was confident in my sprint."
Pogačar opted to lead it out, and Mas responded well but the Slovenian again proved to be faster, celebrating just before the finish line.
"You never know what will happen after a long and hard race but I knew what I had to do," Pogačar said.
"I was pretty tired but when you see the finish line you forget about the pain and go for it. With about 50 metres to go there were no doubts and I was really happy when I crossed the line. The best win to end the season is to win Il Lombardia."
