Final more dangerous than hard with the bottlenecks and hairpin bends of Bergamo Alta but Lombardia does not betray the expectations even if they disappoint Contador, Kwiatkowski and Joaquim Rodriguez who was aiming for the third consecutive goal. The Irishman Daniel Martin won with a stretch in the last six hundred meters, who with this success erases an unfortunate year, marked by a crash in the initial time trial of the Giro in Belfast. After Sean Kelly's hat-trick (1983-85-91) he is the second Irishman to triumph in the dead leaves classic. The race, which after the rain of the last two years finds an almost summer sun, was decided in the unique scenario that Bergamo Alta offers with a group of good names who detached just enough from the rest of the group who in the meantime had caught up with the last fugitives of the day.
It seemed that by now the race had to be decided with a nine-man sprint: there was a bit of all of Europe: three Spaniards (Valverde, Rodriguez and Samuel Sanchez), a Portuguese (Rui Costa), an Irishman (Martin), a Swiss (Albasini), two Belgians (Gilbert and Vellens), one Italian (Aru). Mikal Kwiatkkowsski, fresh world champion, was out of the running among the big names, forced by cramps to pedal like any other cyclist a dozen kilometers from the finish line. Also bottled up in the narrow ancient gates of Bergamo was Alberto Contador who was no longer able to hook up to the wheels of the leaders and ended up involved in a fall 300 meters from the finish.
El Pistolero will arrive only 34th at 58” seconds from the winner. Up front while Valverde was watching Gilbert who in turn feared Rui Costa's draw, it was Daniel Martin who started off with an uncatchable progression. Lombardy belonged to him. One second behind the Irishman, Valverde preceded Rui Costa and then Wellens – who had been on the run as far as the gates of Bergamo. Gilbert was seventh. Rodriguez only eighth while Aru closed the group of the first in ninth place. For Valverde it is the umpteenth podium this season but the Movistar champion from Murcia consoled himself with the 80 points forfeited with second place valid for the Uci ranking which sees him overtaking Contador with 686 points and stuck at 620 with XNUMX points. the head-to-head between the two Spaniards for the final leadership will be the next Tour of Beijing.
