Slovenian cycling superstar celebrates his 2024 Lombardia win

Slovenian cycling titan Tadej Pogačar has become the first rider ever to have won a monument classic five times in a row, having dominated Il Lombardia for a 50th solo win in his career.

A route from Como to Bergamo took the riders through the hilly Northern Italian landscape. The 241km race featured a series of long, steep climbs with a total of over 4,400 metres of elevation gain, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The most challenging segment began some 40 kilometres before the finish line, and Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates XRG were quick to ramp up the pace at the bottom of the Passo di Ganda to shatter the field.

One of those alternating at the wheel of the Emirates train was Polish veteran rider Rafal Majka, who was riding his last race before retirement. After he clocked off and let Australia's Jay Vine step in to do a lead-out for their team leader, Pogačar had the presence of mind to salute him.

Some 37 kilometres to go, Pogi, as the Slovenian is known to his fans, took off and nobody could cope with his acceleration. The only remaining rider of the breakaway, American Quinn Simmons was caught on the last and the most challenging part of the climb and was soon dropped as the slopes got even steeper.

Pogačar then masterfully completed the rest of the race, which included a hairpin descent. Belgian star Remco Evenepoel tried to catch him, just like he attempted at Worlds and Euros, but once again could not do it.

The Slovenian entered the final kilometre with a beaming smile and started celebrating another major accomplishment. Second place went to Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step), who crossed the finish line one minute and 48 seconds behind the Slovenian, and Australia's Michael Storer (Tudor) finished third, three minutes and 14 seconds behind the winner.

"Every time I start [the Il Lombardia race] it feels that this course, this race is suited for me. But also I have such a good team around me that we can pull it off, so big thanks to all my teammates," Pogačar told the organisers after the race, adding the team's effort was "impressive stuff".

He later told the Slovenian public broadcaster that without his team he could not have set the latest record.

Another one for the history books

This is the first time in the 133-year history of monument races a rider has won one of them five consecutive times. The monuments are considered the toughest one-day events in men's road cycling.

Pogačar has also become the first ever to have podiumed at all five of the monument classics in a single season, and the second, after Eddy Merckx, to have won three in the same season. The two monuments he did not win this season, Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, are now two of his main goals for next season.

He now equals the legendary Fausto Coppi's record of five wins at Il Lombardia, a record that was set seven decades ago.

The Slovenian's latest feat marks his 20th victory this season and 108th career win. It is also his tenth monument race win so far. The only riders in the history of cycling to have more of those to their name are two Belgian legends - Merckx (19) and Roger De Vlaeminck (11). Pogačar and Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel (8) are the only active riders to have won more than two monuments.

When it comes to other Slovenian riders, there are two who have been victorious at a monument race - Primož Roglič won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2020 and Matej Mohorič claimed victory at Milan-San Remo in 2022.

Known as the race of the falling leaves, Il Lombardia is the final monument of the year, but it will not be the final test for Pogačar this season.

The 27-year-old plans to take part in the inaugural Andorra Cycling Masters race, a unique clash where he will go head to head with three other star cyclists - his teammate Isaac del Toro, a Mexican rider, his perennial Tour de France rival No. 1, Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, and fellow Slovenian Roglič.

Not an official UCI-sanctioned race, the four-rider event on 19 October will consist of an 8km uphill time trial and a 32km urban duel, and there will be no team back-up and no peloton to take shelter in. A documentary is planned to be released later this year featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the event.

Before this showdown Pogačar hosted Pogi Challenge in Slovenia on 12 October, a special event where participants competed against him as he takes them on a ride up his favourite climb - Krvavec.

The Slovenian has had an amazing season, defending the Tour de France and world road race champion titles and winning the European road race title for the first time.

Asked about the season, he said:

"Seven years in a row I've been saying 'this is my best season so far', and again, I can say, this is the best season so far."

Photo: dpa/STA