An authentic parterre de roi. This is how the entry lot for the Giro di Lombardia looks like, a very classic autumn event which effectively closes the great cycling season. All the big names in pedaling will be there for an ideal revenge, just seven days away, of the World Championship in Florence which surprisingly crowned the Portuguese Rui Costa making Joaquin Rodriguez shed bitter tears, who at the Lombardia last year he took one of his most beautiful victories, detaching everyone under the downpour and arriving alone at the finish line in Lecco. And Purito is also this Sunday one of the big favorites of the dead leaves race.
He will have to contend with a cast of rivals, who like Contador and Gilbert see Lombardy as their last chance to save a completely colorless and disappointing season. Even Valverde, after so many placings – third in the Tour and in the World Championship – is always looking for a success to get rid of the fame of eternal placing that he shares with Rodriguez second in the Tour and in the World Championship (not to mention the 2012 Giro d'Italia lost in the last meters of the Milan time trial beaten by Ryder Hesjedal, a Canadian meteor who immediately went out after then).
But Lombardia - which Fausto Coppi won five times, still holding the record for victories - is an appointment that is always tempting even for those who have already won a lot in the season that is about to end. It is the case of Nibali who with a success would cancel a less sweet September between the Vuelta and the World Championship in May than his triumphal Giro d'Italia. This is also the case of Chris Froome, the rider considered today the strongest of the lot, absolute ruler of the Tour, who should have the July leg could make havoc on the many climbs scattered over the 242 km of the route: it starts after 80 km with the Valcava pass – 11 km with an average gradient of 7,7% and peaks of 17% – and then, once you have passed Colle di Brianza, you arrive at the highlight of the race: the Muro di Sormano, which Vincenzo Torriani wanted to introduce into the XNUMXs but which was later suppressed because runners practically climbed it on foot or in a push festival.
Reintroduced last year, the dreaded wall but too far from the finish line, made no selection, but its 2 km of ascent with peaks of up to 27% are always a show even if there are still over 80 km to go. Especially since the Colma di Sormano is located at an altitude of 1124 meters above sea level, the runners will face a descent which in case of rain is among the most treacherous. The Belgian Gilbert knows something about him at his expense, who tumbled to the ground in a bend, tearing off his rainbow jersey he had just won in Valkenburg.
Fourth ascent of the day, after skirting Lake Como up to Bellagio is the Madonna del Ghisallo (14 km with an average gradient of 6,2%). In his descent last year it was also Nibali who crashed, playing every chance of winning the race. Lo Squalo, absolute leader of the current blue cycling, will try again this year, perhaps waiting for the decisive spurt of the last climb of the day, that of Villa Vergnano, not long – just 3,2 km – but with maximum gradients even 15% that after a certainly exhausting race will be felt on the legs of the runners: it was here, just 14 km from the finish, that last year Rodriguez made the final flight towards Lecco.
A path that in fact seems to have been made on purpose to exalt the big stars, an elite of stars which now also includes Peter Sagan - always in search of the great victory in a classic monument - and Rui Costa himself, after what was shown at the Tour (two victories) and on the Fiesole world circuit. Also under examination for entry is Nairo Quintana, the undisputed leader of the new Colombian cycling, also strong in Uran and Betancur, a thoroughbred grimpeur who could detach his ticket to the big club in the event of a success in Lombardy after the prestigious second place at the Tour behind the Martian Froome.
