Time for the last race of the year for the peloton, with one of the monuments of cycling, the Giro di Lombardia.
Between Phinney chase of the individual crown, and some teams fight to stay in the division, there is plenty to see today.
Phinney and Lopez are the top favorites, but the bookies see Formolo causing them problems, and he’ll have additional motivation as his team needs to stay out of the relegation zone, and they are in a favourable position.
Plenty of attacks in the ten first kilometres. MOL, Isostar, De Stijl, Huski, Popo4Ever, Evonik and cycleYorkshire already are in line to control the break.
They aren’t letting go a group of 5, trying to reach the top of the race: Arensman, Dewulf, Osorio, Yates, Vangstad, Bagioli, Brockhoff, Vila and Sirironnachai have 16 seconds on Ulissi, Restrepo, Cemazar, Chiu and Barbin.
Osorio and Arensman seem to be the strongest of those 14.
Nearly 50 km done, and the pace is still strong: the peloton trails the break by only one minute.
But then the gap is growing quickly, the directors seem to have told the domestiques to let the breakaway go, as nobody really is dangerous for the top favourites, and the Colle Gallo is nearly there (5,1 km, 7,6%). A short introduction to he race, if one might say.
No rider dropped in the ascension, but the gap went up to 3’40. 173 km left to ride.
Not much happens on the flat section to the Colle Brianza (3,6 km, 6,2%, but with two steep kilometres, over 9%), although the gap has shrunk to 2’20 under the impulsion of the rouleurs in the pack, like Cataford and Gayral.
Under Sirironnachai impulsion, the break wins a bit more time in the climb, but the gap stays under 3 minutes.
And – already! – we are under the 100 km mark! The gap still is a bit over two minutes, and we’re quickly approaching the more mountainous part of the race, which begins with Valbronna, if you can call that a climb. It has a steep first kilometre, though (4,5 km, 2,3%).
Caution advised! That descent sure is steep.
And 11 km lower, the riders will tackle the Madonna del Ghisallo (10 km, 4,9%). Once again, the profile of the climb doesn’t show the 5 hard kilometres, with sections over 9,5%. And right after that, the Colma di Sormano (4,9 km, 11,9%, with a max at 22,9%). That will make casualties, while both groups still are complete.
As the hard part of the race truly begins with 66 km left, the gap is 1’07. Knotten is the first to be dropped from the pack.
Hofstede brings everyone back, with Formolo in his wheel. Padun and Phinney aren’t far.
Meanwhile, the domestiques who have worked for 200 km are dropped.
Isostar, with Pronskiy and Chamorro made the climb hard, and the peloton is down to 157 men. 5,5 km left before the Colma di Sormano.
Splits in the pack! It shouldn’t be too problematic, but the bad positioning of Meintjes, Karnulin and Preidler is worrying.
50 km left, and Paret-Peintre is the first to attack! He probably knows he has to drop some leaders if he wants to stand a chance today.
He gets a gap with Carpenter and Formolo, but they don’t go too far.
Then it’s Phinney who probably finds that the pace is too slow. He tales the lead in the pack, with Paret-Peintre in his wheel.
The peloton explodes! A group of 13 begins the descent first. Those are Padun, Gidich, Phinney, Paret-Peintre, Formolo, Carthy, Galta, Lopez, Eastman, Bongiorno, Madouas, Godoy and Williams.
A group of 17 with Meintjes, Pluchkin, Sagan, Lutsenko or De Bie is 30’’ behind. That’s not much, but maybe they shouldn’t let Higuita lead them. Kwiatkowski and Buchmann are further behind.
45 km left, and two climbs.
Gidich attacks in the descent, and though he’s not the fast descender, he gets a gap with Padun, Phinney, Paret-Peintre and Formolo.
With De Bie dropped from the 3rd group, that doesn’t feel very good for Aegon.
End of the descent, 33 km left. 22 riders are back together. Lutsenko, De Bie, Kwiatkowski, Buchmann and Koretzky are the main favourites not in this group.
De Bie and Lutsenko are back with 11 km left before the hellish Civiglio (4,3 km, 9,8%). Kwiatkowski is 1’30 behind.
Pluchkin is dropped as soon as the climb begins, with Goh in the lead for now.
Then it’s Formolo who ups the pace, dropping Higuita. De Bie and Preidler are at the back of the group. Behind, Buchman tries to come back all alone, and Koretzky leads a group with 4 Gazelle riders in it.
Lopez attacks! He has Madouas in his wheel.
Lopez is flying! He gets a 20’’ gap on a group of 25 with 15 km left. De Bie is dropped, but Goos is still here for Aegon, while Duolingo has Eastman.
Sagan and Gidich managed to join the Columbian, but then we see Sosa working in the chasing group…
At least, he dropped Kirsch, Goos and Lutsenko.
Now it’s downhill for 6 km, and the last climb, San Fermo della Bettaglia (2,5 km, 7,8%).
10 km mark! The three leaders extended their lead.
And as soon as the last climb of the PT season begins, Gidich attacks! Behind them, Paret-Peintre is leading the favourites.
The three leaders cross the summit with a 28 seconds advantage. 4,6 km left, all downhill and flat. Gidich still is the one working.
Phinney and Formolo are leading the chase.
Flamme rouge! It’ll definitely play between those three. Behind them, Formolo and Eastman both are here.
500 m. Sagan is the fastest.
SAGAN WINS THE 2022 GIRO DI LOMBARDIA!
Gidich is 2nd, Lopez 3rd.
Now the stay in the PT might be played in a sprint! Phinney, Paret-Peintre and Formolo are leading the group.
Phinney is 4th! Obviously, that’ll mean another PT crown for the American. Yates is 5th after a quiet race, Paret-Peintre a brave 6th, Madouas 7th and Formolo 8th and a good step in the direction of staying in the PT.
Sosa adds a second top 10 for King Power, while Padun is 10th.
Then come Bongiorno and Eastman. We’ll have to wait for the last results to be sure of it, but it probably means that Duolingo will be relegating. Behind them are Galta, Godoy and Carthy to close the top 15, a wheel ahead of Meintjes and way ahead of Preidler.
Buchman bravely sprints for 18th, even though the needed miracle didn’t happen, Williams is 19th. Smith, in the back, will be 20th.
Koretzky has enough energy left to beat Lutsenko., and Goos leads home the bunch of Gazelle riders.
And with that, that’s it for the 2022 ProTour. I’ll leave you with the full results and the wait for the full rankings. See you next season.
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