Gilbert repeat victor of Giro di Lombardia

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) reaffirmed his immense talent for the toughest classics in cycling by taking his second successive victory at the Tour of Lombardy.

Gilbert looked the strongest rider throughout the new finale of the race, handling the heavy rain and cold conditions far better than any of his rivals.

After putting all his rivals to the sword in the final hour of the race, he dropped Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli) over the top of the final San Fermo di Battaglia climb to win the final classic of the year alone. He waved and smiled as he crossed the finish line, savouring his second consecutive victory on the shores of Lake Como.

"This year it was a lot more difficult to win and the weather made it even worse,” Gilbert said after lifting the winner's trophy.

"This race is really hard to win and I had to go deep. We had to make huge efforts in the finale and for a long time there was a head wind. It was 45 minutes at 100 percent."

Scarponi finished 12 seconds later but it seemed much more, such was the superiority of Gilbert. He was rightly satisfied with second after trying his hardest to take on Gilbert. Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne) was a surprise third at 55 seconds, proving he is also one of the hard men of the peloton.

195 starters, only 34 finishers

195 riders rolled out of Milan, happy to get the last race of the season underway but only 34 made it to the finish on Como. The riders crossed the line alone or in small groups, with the pain of racing in the cold and wet for most of the 260km, carved deep in their faces.

Gilbert was the only one smiling. He was patently the most on-form man in the race and his win was born as much of his strength of mind as the strength in his legs.

As usual the early action fast and furious, with the early break consisting of six riders: Tony Gallopin (Cofidis), Gianluca Mirenda (ISD-Neri), Diego Caccia (ISD-Neri), Mauro Da Dalto (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Kjeil Carlström (Team Sky) and Michael Albasini (HTC-Columbia).

They went clear after 15km and opened a seven-minute lead but Gilbert's Omega Pharma-Lotto team worked solidly to keep them in check during the long circuit of Lake Como.

The Belgian team has been criticised for its poor results in the past but the riders always raise their game when Gilbert is at his best and they stoically whittled down the gap before also shaking out the group of favourites; first on the Madonna del Ghisallo climb up from the lake shore and then on the new Colma di Sormano climb.

Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri) and Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) went away from the bunch on the Ghisallo and got across to the remnants of the break. Albasini was clear alone but the Sormano climb was long and hard and reshuffled the race.

Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) surged across to the front group and then dropped the others but his move was far too early and far too ambitious.

The real race began on the treacherous descent of the Sormano. Gilbert went to the front in order to negate the threat from Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) and show he was in control.

The twisting descent split the front group into a long broken line of riders, with Gilbert leading Nibali, Lastras and Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack).

When Nibali crashed on a hairpin corner, landing on his chest and looking stunned and defeated, Gilbert accelerated to make sure he would not get back on. It was perhaps a key moment of the race, making victory much simpler for Gilbert.

The rest of the descent and the fast run-in to Como turned into a pursuit match as Gilbert drove on the front. Scarponi emerged as the best chaser and managed to get across to Gilbert after a long, solo effort. He was the only one to make it but would pay for it later, while the likes of Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed the first chase group.

The two rode shoulder-to-shoulder most of the way up the climb, even touching as they fought the gradient and tried to handle the rough roads. However, Gilbert’s expression was one of supreme control and smooth pedalling backed by immense strength.

After eyeing up his prey, Gilbert seemed to switch to the big chain ring and that was enough to distance Scarponi, who also had a brief gear problem. The gap was made and the race was over.

Gilbert wisely took no chances on the descent into Como but was in total control and won by 12 seconds ahead of Scarponi, while Pablo Lastras (Caisse d’Epargne) clipped off the front of the Nibali group to take third. Behind, Fuglsang out-sprinted the Italian for fourth place, and a second successive season ended with success for Gilbert and without an Italian classics victory.