Remco Evenepoel finishes second in Tour of Lombardy, Tadej Pogacar takes victory

Evenepoel Finishes Second in Tour of Lombardy as Pogacar Secures Historic Victory

Remco Evenepoel finished second in the Tour of Lombardy, the concluding major race of the cycling season and his final event with the Soudal Quick-Step team, reports 24brussels.

The 241-kilometer race was decisively won by Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar, who finished 1 minute and 48 seconds ahead of Evenepoel and more than 3 minutes clear of Australian Michael Storer in third place.

Pogacar’s victory marks a historic achievement, as he equals the record of five wins set by Fausto Coppi, becoming the first rider to secure a monument—one of cycling’s most prestigious one-day events—five times in succession. Furthermore, Pogacar is the first cyclist to finish on the podium at all five monuments within a single season.

“The fact that this is my last race for the team is an extra motivation to go all out one more time.”

Evenepoel is set to join Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe following this event. In the lead-up to the Tour of Lombardy, he expressed a desire to deliver a farewell gift to his current team.

“The fact that this is my last race for the team is an extra motivation to go all out one more time. I don’t feel sad, but I do feel extra motivated,” he stated before the race.

The Tour of Lombardy alternates its start and finish locations annually. This iteration spanned 241 kilometers and included six significant climbs from Como to Bergamo.

Last year, Pogacar claimed victory by a margin of 3 minutes and 15 seconds over Evenepoel, the largest winning gap in the event since Eddy Merckx’s triumph in 1971, where he finished 3 minutes and 31 seconds ahead of Italian Franco Bitossi. The last Belgian to win the race was Philippe Gilbert in 2009 and 2010.

The monuments are recognized as the oldest, most demanding, and prestigious one-day races in the cycling calendar: Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Lombardy.