Tadej Pogacar reigned over the Tour of Lombardy for the third year in a row this Saturday, October 7, with almost a minute ahead of the chasing group. The performance is great, but for many, the important thing was elsewhere, because this weekend in Bergamo was Thibaut Pinot’s farewell to professional cycling.
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Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won for the third consecutive time in the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday October 7 in Bergamo, winning solo. By beating the Italian Andrea Bagioli and the other Slovenian cador Primoz Roglic, Pogacar is the third cyclist to win three years in a row in the “Classic of Dead Leaves”, after Fausto Coppi in 1949 and Alfredo Binda in the 1940s. 1920.
The leader of the UAE team went on the attack in the Passo di Ganda, the last climb of the day, while the strong men’s teams, and in particular the Jumbo-Visma of Primoz Roglic, imposed a big pace on the rest of the field. platoon. Joined by a group made up of the main favorites, with the exception of the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, reduced by a heavy fall at the start of the race, Pogacar took off on the descent towards Bergamo.
He crossed the finish line almost a minute ahead of the chasing group, settled in a sprint by Soudal-Quick Step Italian Andrea Bagioli.
The eyes of the French were elsewhere
We come from far, far away to take our place in the Curva Pinot.
The record: 16 hours by car from Copenhagen. Oscar comes from Brest, a 14-hour journey for him but there is no question of missing this Tour of Lombardy, the last race of the “idol” #CurvaPinot pic.twitter.com/87WlPGs42K— Thomas-Sean de Saint Leger (@ThomasdeStLeger) October 7, 2023
Pogacar thus completes a rich year with two Monuments to his name, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Lombardy, the Flèche Wallonne, the Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Nice. He also finished second in the Tour de France with two stage victories to boot. This is Pogacar’s 17th victory of the season, the biggest total in the peloton, and the 63rd of his career, at only 25 years old.
Except that for French cycling lovers, the main thing was elsewhere. Because the day was above all marked by the farewell of Thibaut Pinot who, for the last race of his career, was honored by the organizers. The Groupama FDJ rider set off on the front row, to the applause of Tadej Pogacar and all the big names in the peloton.
The Frenchman was dropped on the last climb, before being cheered by the hundreds of supporters who came to bid him farewell.
Read alsoCycling: retirement time for Frenchman Thibaut Pinot