Nibali wins Il Lombardia

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) set out is intentions for Il Lombardia early on when he went to recon the final 100 kilometres of the route and he used that experience to take an impressive solo victory in Como on Sunday. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) put in a valiant chase but couldn’t match the descending skills of the Italian and took second place. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) came home in third to complete the podium. It was Nibali's first Monument victory of his career.

“I’ve always wanted to win a race of this stature and of this kind and it was my time to win it,” Nibali said at the finish. “To win a Monument you also have to be lucky. It has been a great day.”

Nibali had looked strong throughout the day, even taking to the front of the bunch on the formidable Muro di Sormano. Astana had strength in numbers too, driving the pace and shedding some serious rivals in the process. Nibali still had Diego Rosa for company when it came to the two crucial, final, climbs and the pair worked together to put their rivals under pressure.

It wasn’t until near the top of the Civiglio that Nibali threw a move up the middle of a seven-man group. He pulled out a fair advantage but he really made the difference on the twisting descent, as he pushed the limits of the road. After the hair-raising ride down the other side, the Italian had 40 seconds as the chasers behind struggled to mount a proper challenge.

Rosa helped his elder teammate out, running down anyone who did dare to try and chase him down. Moreno helped to bring back plenty of moves and it even looked like he was working for fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). There was no doubt about his intentions when he brought back a move by Pinot with six kilometres to go. Another kick on the tougher slopes of the San Fermo della Battaglia saw him shed the Frenchman.

At one point it seemed like only a matter of time that he would close down Nibali but the Italian’s superior descending skills proved vital once again and he had enough time to celebrate in the final 300 metres.

How it happened

The 198-strong peloton lined up under cloudy skies and rain at the start in Bergamo and many decided to remain in their team bus until as close to the start as possible. They did eventually set off at just after 10:30 local time to tackle the 245-kilometre course. It was a quick start to the day with several riders attempting to escape early on.

A number of groups were successful, eventually forming the 11-man move that would spend most of the day out front. The lucky riders who got away were: Stefan Schumacher (CCC Sprandi), Enrico Barbin (Badiani CSF), Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), Matteo Busato (Southeast), Dennis Van Winden (LottoNL-Jumbo), Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Pier Paolo de Negri (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Marco Canola (UnitedHealthcare), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling) and Oscar Gatto (Androni Giocattoli).

Their gap quickly grew to a maximum of over eight minutes, with the peloton happy to take it a little easier. The pace did slow but, as the rain cleared, they still motored along a touch quicker than the fastest predicted time schedule. Astana had been bullish before the race and they lived up to their promise by controlling the peloton for almost the whole day, with a little help from Movistar and Team Sky.

As the race reached the halfway point, the 11 escapees saw their gap begin to disappear before their eyes. By the time they neared the bottom of the Madonna di Ghisallo, it was just a tiny 2:30 that separated them from the pack behind.

It had been a fairly placid affair until now but when the riders hit the Ghisallo all bets were off and the attacks started to come in. Up front, Benedetti and Canola distanced their tired companions, while Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and six others set off in chase. Kwiatkowski was joined in his endeavours by Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin), Matteo Trentin, Carlos Verona, Lukasz Wisniowski (Etixx-QuickStep), Jon Izagirre (Movistar), Robert Gesink, Timo Roosen (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing).

Once the Ghisallo was dispatched with, the formidable Muro di Sormano was next in their sights. The punishing climb saw the riders almost grind to a halt as the 1,900 metres ticked by slowly. Kwiatkowski and Wellens emerged from the chasing group and eased passed Benedetti and Canola. Kwiatkowski looked the most comfortable of the two and pulled out a small gap, forcing Wellens to work hard to chase him down.

Astana continued to pile on the power behind, reducing the bunch to less than 20 riders by the top of the Sormano. While some were able to get back on, key riders such as Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) were dropped and distanced. Gilbert tried to reel them back in but it came to nothing.

The twisting descent of the Sormano made for some heart-stopping watching but it didn’t faze Astana that began taking chunks out of the fragile lead of Kwiatkowski and Wellens. The bottom of the Civiglio spelled the end of their day and despite a last ditch attempt from Kwiatkowski, he was no match for the Astana team.

Astana, as they had been doing all day, put men on the front and burned off yet more riders until we were left with just seven out front. As the last rider pulled off, Nibali made his first of many attacks. His teammate Rosa was distanced briefly but came back when Team Sky’s Sergio Henao put in the work to bring himself back into contention.

Pinot, Rosa and Mikel Nieve were the main protagonists on the penultimate climb but nobody could snap the elastic. It took Nibali’s move with 17 kilometres remaining to finally do it and once he’d gone there was nobody who could touch him as he stormed to his first Monument victory.

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