With Puma's title already wrapped up and Moser secured for 2nd place, the battle at the top is for the final podium spot between Vesuvio, Festina, Evonik, Air France, Gazelle, T-Mobile and Isostar. Less than 400 spots separate those six teams. At the bottom, It looks to be a two-way battle between Tinkoff and UBS for who stays in the division, unless Desigual can pull a rabbit out of their collective hats. Will the narrative really be Trofimov coming back to haunt his former team and resign them to relegation? Let's find out...
Top Punchers
Name
MON
HIL
STA
ACC
Hagen
70
85
81
79
Bakelants
75
84
81
78
Ponzi
73
84
77
80
De Bie
71
83
77
75
Skujins
70
83
80
76
Claeys
67
83
74
73
Spilak
85
82
80
74
Sagan
74
82
78
76
Van Garderen
72
82
78
79
Kelderman
71
82
80
72
Gastauer
71
82
78
76
Ginanni
69
82
77
73
Gesink
83
81
78
68
Beltran
79
81
73
76
Trofimov
76
81
77
73
Mohoric
71
81
78
77
Koretzky
71
80
77
79
Boswell
71
80
77
76
Vakoc
71
80
75
74
Top Climbers
Name
MON
HIL
STA
ACC
Spilak
85
82
80
74
Madrazo
85
76
81
72
Pluchkin
85
75
78
74
Morton
84
76
79
67
Alarcon
84
73
71
78
Gesink
83
81
78
68
Machado
83
76
75
70
Martin
82
77
77
76
Guldhammer
81
77
74
76
Monsalve
81
76
79
73
Galta
81
73
78
64
Olivier
80
76
76
71
Nerz
80
72
75
68
A breakaway of three riders formed after three unsuccessful attempts. The riders in the break are:
Trillini Sulimov Kononenko
All quiet in the peloton in the first 100 kilometers. The break pull out their lead to nearly 9 minutes.
The pack starts to chase with 150 km to go. Grieg, Air France and Hugo Boss at the front.
100 km to go and we're nearing Sormano. The break's lead is down to 4'39".
The first riders getting dropped now on the Sormano.
The gap is down to 3'32" at the start of Ghisallo. The same three teams are at the front.
More riders now dropped from the peloton.
Sulimov is dropped from the break 2 km from the summit of Ghisallo.
Sulimov is caught by the pack with 40 km left.
28 km to go as the break starts Vergano. Their lead is down to just over a minute.
Ponzi's waited long enough. He launches an attack with 26 km remaining. There's been no response from his rivals.
Ponzi catches and passes the break like they're not there! The break would be caught a kilometer later.
The top punchers take up the chasing themselves with Hagen and Bakelants at the front. Behind them are De Bie, Martin and Skuijns. Mager chases for Kelderman a little further back.
Bakelants, Hagen, De Bie, Martin and Skuijns catch up to Ponzi with 22 km remaining. They're 3 km from the summit of Vergano.
Ponzi, Hagen and Bakelants distance the others. The peloton are coming back and closing the gap.
Past the 20 km banner and the gap in increasing to the peloton once again.
The next wave of attacks see Sagan, Koretzky, Ginanni and Vakoc trying to get away. Spilak is biding his time for the moment behind Mager.
15 km to go and the lead trio have exteded their lead to the chasing trio to over a minute. The peloton continue to chase, now down to 85 riders.
De Bie, Martin and Skuijns are caught by the pack with 11 km to go. Destroibis setting the pace for Berg. Behind him, it's Mohoric, Chiarello and the T-Mobile domestiques. Their deficit stands at 1'8".
5 km to go for the lead group now. Their lead is down to 36". The peloton has whittled itself down to 63 riders.
19 riders dropped with Kump the first of the big names in trouble.
Seven riders leave the pack behind and catch the leading trio. Ginanni, Van Garderen, Koretzky, Mohoric, Kelderman, Skuijns and De Bie the riders to make the transition. They have a gap to the peloton now.
The peloton comes back and closes the gap just a few hundred meters later.
2.5 km left. We're at the summit of the last hill. No attacks in the pack. Looks like the downhill will decide the winner.
1 km to go and still no attacks. Benoot is leading the pack with Furdi. Bakelants, Ponzi and Ginanni on the right. Mohoric and De Bie in the middle. Jensen and McCutcheon on the left.
700 meters. Bakelants leading now with Hagen up into contention. Van Garderen, Sagan, Skuijns, Claeys and De Bie in the next line.
Everyone funnels to the inside with 400 meters to go. Bakelants, Ponzi, Van Garderen and Koretzky are in the best positions now.
Ponzi next to Bakelants as we head into the final 200 meters. De Bie has found a gap to improve his position. Van Garderen and Ginanni running out of steam. Sagan is looking to squeeze himself through.
It's clearly between the front two now with 100 meters left. Hagen is losing ground while Van Garderen is coming back. Koretzky currently in 4th place.
Ponzi is past Bakelants inside the final 50 meters. It's still very close and also for 3rd place. Van Garderen currently holding that position.
Ponzi wins Il Lombardia and adds to his already glittering Palmares. Bakelants is 2nd, beaten right at the end after having led the sprint for so long. Van Garderen just pips Sagan for 3rd place.
Hagen completes the Top 5 with Koretzky, De Bie, Ginanni, Martin and Skuijns making up the Top 10. Good outcome for Grieg this.
Vakoc, Jensen, Madrazo, Spilak and Trofimov make up positions 11 through 15.
Claeys, Benoot, Beltran, Kelderman and Gesink complete the Top 20.
The picture below is probably an indication of how close the puncher field has been all season!
Today's winner - Simone Ponzi.
Ponzi's win ensures a Top 10 charge for his team. T-Mobile gets the best of the rest in the podium race with Van Garderen's 3rd place but it might not be enough to overturn the deficit, without looking at the full results. Disappointing outings for Vesuvio, Evonik and Isostar in particular. Perhaps Air France would've been hoping for more from Hagen too. Champions Puma enjoy the 19th place finish from Kelderman to round their superb season. Moser end on a high, with Sagan picking up 4th place here to go with his win in Liege.
Coming to the relegation battle, a best of 15th by Trofimov and 27th by Zakarin actually means UBS move ahead of Tinkoff by a single point (!!) by just considering those two riders. However we need to wait till the full scores come in. How close is this! Desigual, with a best result of 87th are relegated, and so are Porto, Volvo, despite Jensen's gutsy 12th place, and Berg.
