Classic monument to its history, the Tour of Lombardy which is being run today on the unprecedented route of 254 km from Como to Bergamo, is something more than a simple rematch of the World Cup.
There is no shortage of reasons for interest at the end of a fascinating cycling season, starting with the new world champion, the Pole Mikal Kwiatkowski, wearing the first rainbow jersey, is looking for a double – World Cup plus Lombardy – which has been missing since Paolo Bettini's success in 2006.
He has a great desire to make a spectacular trio Joaquim Rodríguez, winner alone in the last two editions when, with the punctuality of a Swiss watch, he always took off from the same point, in the last 500 meters of the Villa Vergnano climb eight km from the finish. This year Purito will have to invent something new perhaps on the Berbenno climb or even on the final ascent to Bergamo Alta.
Two other Spaniards have targeted Lombardy, two excellent names like those of Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde who are fighting for the leadership in the Uci ranking: after the triumph in the Vuelta it is Contador who leads it with 620 points, ima Valverde is immediately behind at 606: both have never won the very classic of the dead leaves. “El Pistolero” has never even won a monument classic.
Valverde has already achieved two Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2006 and 2008. Apart from the outcome of today's race, both will meet again at the Beijing Tour, the last round of the World Tour circuit. foreign champions, in the blue house – absent Damiano Cunego who is the leading player in Lombardy having won three – there is above all Fabio Aru who would like to put the final icing on a season to be framed.
He will lead Astana considering that Vincenzo Nibali, at the behest of the property, was reluctantly diverted to Asia for the Almaty Tour. Meanwhile, more and more shadows lurk around the Kazakh team after the double case of positivity at the Epo of the two Iglinsky brothers, Maxix and Valentin. A embarrassing situation especially for Alexander Vinokourov, he too was caught by anti-doping when he was racing, and today he can't close the new cases with the usual excuse that they are initiatives by individual riders, of which the team was unaware. In reflection, it is also embarrassing for Nibali, who absolutely wants to be the protagonist of a new and clean cycling, but which in fact is in a team historically among the most involved and talked about in the field of doping.
