The 112th edition of the prestigious Italian Monument awaits the riders with an elevation gain of over 4 000 meters.
Colle Gallo, Colle Brianza, the iconic Madonna del Ghisallo – which made its debut in the race in 1919 – Colma di Sormano (and its brutal 27% gradients near the top), Civiglio and Monte Olimpino are the six climbs peppering the highly selective 241km-long course of Il Lombardia, the season's fifth Monument, which will take the peloton from Bergamo to Como, finish venue for the 34th time since 1961, the year it was first introduced on the route.
Twice victorious in the "Classic of the Falling Leaves" (2005, 2006) – an event first held more than a century ago – Quick-Step Floors will look to be again a protagonist in the last major one-day race of what has been a truly remarkable season that at this point finds our outfit with 70 UCI wins in the bag and close to clinching the World Tour team classification.
Three of the Quick-Step Floors riders lining out for Il Lombardia were also part of the squad that won the World Team Time Trial Championships in Innsbruck last month, for a record fourth time: neo-pro Kasper Asgreen, Laurens De Plus and Bob Jungels, a stage winner at the 2017 Giro d'Italia in Bergamo. They will be joined by Eros Capecchi, Enric Mas, Gran Piemonte runner-up Florian Sénéchal and Pieter Serry, a top 10 finisher at the Italian Monument in 2013.
"Il Lombardia delivers once again a tough course, with the race very likely to come to life in the last 70 kilometers, when Madonna del Ghisallo and Muro di Sormano will be tackled in quick succession. Later, Civiglio and the punchy Olimpino, which comes close to the finish on Lungo Lario Trento e Trieste, should also play an important role, especially if there will still be a sizeable group inside those last 20 kilometers", said sports director Davide Bramati. "We have had quite the Classics campaign this year and we are keen to show one more time the unique Wolfpack spirit and hopefully come out of this race with a nice result to bring down the curtain on our European season."
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
