For five autumns Il Lombardia had a master. From 2021 to 2025 Tadej Pogačar won it every time, five in a row: nobody had ever done it, not even Fausto Coppi, who stopped at four. On Saturday 10 October his name is not on the start list. Among the 175 riders leaving Bergamo at 11:00 there is only one former winner, Bauke Mollema (2019), and the Race of the Falling Leaves goes back to what it has always been: a race you win by riding away alone on the last hard climb.
The route: it all comes down to the Civiglio
It is 239 kilometres from Bergamo to Como, with about 4,600 metres of climbing. Selvino, Valpiana and Giovenzana come early: the steepest is Giovenzana, 3.6 km at 9.2% with ramps of 16%, but it crests 103 km from the finish. The real race starts on the Ghisallo, 8.6 km at 6.2%, with the top 60 km from the line. Then the finale around Como: the first ascent of San Fermo della Battaglia, the Civiglio, 4.2 km at 9.7% with ramps of 14%, cresting 16.7 km from Como, and San Fermo again, 2.7 km at 7.2%, which tops out 5.2 km from the finish before the descent to the lake.
Since 2015, in the seven editions finishing in Como, the winner has arrived alone six times. The Civiglio is the place: whoever gets there with the best legs then has 17 km to hold on, and San Fermo is the last chance for the chasers. The start is at 11:00; depending on the pace, the finish comes between 16:40 and 17:20.
Evenepoel, twice runner-up
The first name is Remco Evenepoel. In 2024 and 2025 he finished second behind Pogačar, last year 1’48” down, and this time he arrives with the richest season in the field: twelve wins in 2026, including the Amstel Gold Race, the Clásica San Sebastián, the Grand Prix de Québec, the world time trial title and, last Sunday, the European road race, ahead of Giulio Ciccone on the same time. With him at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are Primož Roglič, European time trial champion on Wednesday, Florian Lipowitz, Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari.
The chasers
The youngest of the contenders is Paul Seixas, the Frenchman at Decathlon CMA CGM: six wins this year, including La Flèche Wallonne and three stages of the Itzulia, then in September second at the Grand Prix de Montréal and third in the world time trial. Isaac Del Toro, the Mexican at UAE, has won eight times, including a Tour stage and that same Grand Prix de Montréal, and was fifth in the world road race. His team has the new world champion, Brandon McNulty, who on 27 September beat Michael Matthews and Mathieu van der Poel and on Saturday wears number 1.
Among the favourites, the one with the best results of the last few weeks is Tom Pidcock: second at the Giro dell’Emilia and at the Tre Valli Varesine, seventh at the Worlds, five wins in 2026, including Milano-Torino. Further back, but worth watching: Matteo Jorgenson, third at the Tre Valli; Oscar Onley, third at the Emilia; Jarno Widar, who won the Tre Valli; Michael Storer, third last year; and grand tour riders such as Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal and Enric Mas, second in 2022.
Italy has been waiting since 2017
The last Italian to win Il Lombardia was Vincenzo Nibali, in 2017: eight editions since without an Italian on the top step. The most concrete hope is Giulio Ciccone, who has not won this year but in September and October was second in Québec, ninth at the Worlds and second at the Europeans. Giulio Pellizzari has won five times in 2026, including the Giro della Toscana, but in October’s races he never finished in the top thirty. Also starting are Davide Piganzoli, who won the Giro dell’Emilia a week ago, Antonio Tiberi, Andrea Bagioli, second in 2023, and Christian Scaroni, third at the Europeans. In all there are 42 Italians.
The weather: mild and dry
The forecast promises a mild, dry day. In Como, around 17:00, about 20 degrees with a light west-southwesterly wind; the strongest gusts, up to 22 km/h, on the Ghisallo, and the chance of rain is no more than 11% along the whole route. The wind on the finale, climb by climb and at the time the riders pass, is on the race page, updated until the morning of the start.
Where to watch
In Italy, free-to-air on Rai Sport HD from 10:35 and on Rai 2 from 14:00; streaming on RaiPlay, Discovery+ and HBO Max from 10:35; on Eurosport 1 and DAZN from 15:45. For anyone covering the race, every number with its source is in the press sheet.
Sources
- RCS Sport, Il Lombardia 2026 Race Guide (route, climbs, timetable) and the entry list of 7 October.
- UCI, official results (dataride.uci.ch): riders’ seasons, Worlds, Europeans, Giro dell’Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine, Il Lombardia 2025.
- Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), forecast of 8 October; ERA5, Copernicus Climate Change Service (CC BY 4.0), for the temperatures of past editions.
- Roll of honour: Wikidata (CC0), in la fagIAnata’s archive.
Correction, 10 October 2026: we had written that before Pogačar nobody had won more than two Lombardias in a row. Fausto Coppi won four in a row (1946–1949) and five in all. We also removed a comparison with the temperatures of past editions, which was not reliable.
Written with the help of Mnemosyne.