‘This is my best season so far’ says Tadej Pogačar after winning his fifth consecutive Lombardia title

Tadej Pogačar’s relentless rewriting of cycling history continued when he claimed his fifth consecutive victory in Il Lombardia, equalling the record number of wins for the event held by the legendary Fausto Coppi, while also becoming the first rider to win five editions in a row of any Monument. The Slovenian finished 1-48 clear of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) in Bergamo, with Australia’s Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) more than three minutes back in third place and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) fourth. After yet another show of force by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team, recently crowned world and European champion Pogačar attacked on the climb of the Passo di Ganda, with a little less than 37km remaining. He quickly opened up a gap on his main rivals as he bridged up to and then breezed past Simmons, the sole survivor from the 14-rider break that had formed soon after the start. Cresting the Ganda, Pogačar was 1-15 clear of Evenepoel, Simmons and Storer. As ever, the UAE team leader didn’t falter on the run-in. As he crossed the line in Bergamo holding up five fingers to celebrate his success, he also became the first rider in history to finish on the podium of the five Monuments in the same season, the success taking his total wins in these great races to 10. This puts him equal third in the all-time list with Costante Girardengo, behind Eddy Merckx (19 wins) and Roger De Vlaeminck (11) .