Tadej Pogacar wins Il Lombardia 2021
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) added a second Monument to his rapidly-growing palmares on Saturday, beating Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in a two-up sprint to win Il Lombardia, with Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) leading home the chase group for third.
Pogacar continued to create entries into the history books: after winning his second Tour de France in July, he became the youngest winner of Il Lombardia since Jean-Pierre Monseré in 1969. He also joined Moreno Argentin as the only riders to win the race and the Tour de France in the same year.
He also followed up his victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, the overall wins in Tirreno-Adriatico and the UAE Tour in February for a highly successful and well-rounded season.
The Slovenian attacked from far out, countering a move from Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) on the Passo di Ganda with over 30km to go. He was joined on the descent by Deceuninck-Quickstep's Fausto Masnada, who was ordered not to work since world champion and teammate Julian Alaphilippe was present in an elite chasing group.
The passenger did nothing to deter Pogacar, who was solely responsible for maintaining the duo's 45-second lead and leading out the sprint. Such was the Slovenian's power that Masnada could not even draw alongside in the dash to the line.
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates | 6:01:39 |
| 2 | Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep | |
| 3 | Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:51 |
| 4 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma | |
| 5 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 6 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep | |
| 7 | David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 8 | Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM | |
| 9 | Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation | |
| 10 | Sergio Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo | 0:02:25 |
