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114th Il Lombardia (1.UWT) // 15th of August 2020

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I can't seem to get as excited for this as usual. Doesn't really feel like a monument this year and the startlist is really underwhelming. Strade definitely feels like a much bigger and more important race this year.

I guess it's just the Covid calendar and conflict for Tour guys. Giro will likely feel the same.

But we have the most exciting demolition machine in cycling, very young too. Then we have the master of Civiglio, none other than a double winner and then we have the most beautiful birdsong you'll hear all year. Plus a character straight out of a Scorsese movie called Gianni and The Great Bauke Mollema.
 
I can't seem to get as excited for this as usual. Doesn't really feel like a monument this year and the startlist is really underwhelming. Strade definitely feels like a much bigger and more important race this year.

I guess it's just the Covid calendar and conflict for Tour guys. Giro will likely feel the same.

The Giro will be after the Tour, so it won't be a case of guys avoiding it because they're looking past it for something else. Anyone who's riding there, be it after the Tour, or as their main target, will be all-in. The clash with Roubaix and Flanders will take away a few guys, but mainly guys who wouldn't be going for GC anyway.

Lombardia last year was great because a bunch of GC riders and classic riders who were coming off strong rides at the Tour and Vuelta, but hadn't been suited to the Worlds course, had one last big chance to win something. This year it's kinda got lost at the tail of the whole "let's put all the Italian Classics on at the same time, even if it overlaps with TdF prep" bucket. I always feel it kind of gets lost at the end of the year, when all the other monuments happen in a 6-week period in the spring.
 
The Giro will be after the Tour, so it won't be a case of guys avoiding it because they're looking past it for something else. Anyone who's riding there, be it after the Tour, or as their main target, will be all-in. The clash with Roubaix and Flanders will take away a few guys, but mainly guys who wouldn't be going for GC anyway.

Lombardia last year was great because a bunch of GC riders and classic riders who were coming off strong rides at the Tour and Vuelta, but hadn't been suited to the Worlds course, had one last big chance to win something. This year it's kinda got lost at the tail of the whole "let's put all the Italian Classics on at the same time, even if it overlaps with TdF prep" bucket. I always feel it kind of gets lost at the end of the year, when all the other monuments happen in a 6-week period in the spring.
I think one the calendar could use some more one day race love, especially on the hillier, mountainious side of things.
 
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I can't seem to get as excited for this as usual. Doesn't really feel like a monument this year and the startlist is really underwhelming. Strade definitely feels like a much bigger and more important race this year.

I guess it's just the Covid calendar and conflict for Tour guys. Giro will likely feel the same.
Everybody who starts this year, is going to be fresh and will be seeing this as a major goal. That's not always the case other years. Often some have done 2 GT's at that point.

For the Giro, this is even more true. Missing this year are Roglic, Lopez and Landa, Mollema & Sivakov. But last year there was no Evenepoel, Vlasov, Kelderman, Fuglsang.. Agreed that it's a bit worse, but a lot of teams haven't even committed tot the startlist yet. I'd say it lacks perhaps one or two top competitors, but in turn there are a lot of interesting youngsters/outsiders imho. De Plus, McNulty, Vlasov, Evenepoel, Hagen, Soler...

Last year Oomen and Dumoulin didn't even make the third week. Oomen will be back this year.

And most importantly, there will likely not be a dominant train from Jumbo or Ineos!
 
Everybody who starts this year, is going to be fresh and will be seeing this as a major goal. That's not always the case other years. Often some have done 2 GT's at that point.

For the Giro, this is even more true. Missing this year are Roglic, Lopez and Landa, Mollema & Sivakov. But last year there was no Evenepoel, Vlasov, Kelderman, Fuglsang.. Agreed that it's a bit worse, but a lot of teams haven't even committed tot the startlist yet. I'd say it lacks perhaps one or two top competitors, but in turn there are a lot of interesting youngsters/outsiders imho. De Plus, McNulty, Vlasov, Evenepoel, Hagen, Soler...

Last year Oomen and Dumoulin didn't even make the third week. Oomen will be back this year.

And most importantly, there will likely not be a dominant train from Jumbo or Ineos!
Antonio Nibali will choo choo this all home.
 
I'm sure
Everybody who starts this year, is going to be fresh and will be seeing this as a major goal. That's not always the case other years. Often some have done 2 GT's at that point.

And most importantly, there will likely not be a dominant train from Jumbo or Ineos!
Yes, there is that! I do think the racing at the Giro will be fun even if the field is really weak.

2 GTs before GdL is pretty normal and doesn't affect performance or preparation negatively. The last 8 winners had all gone to 2 GTs that year. Sure, a couple crashed out early but you have to go back to Zaugg to find a winner who didn't at least start 2 GTs their winning year and most were fighting at the top in both.

I know you often have guys who are well-suited to GdL end their season early and not race it but this year is just so much worse. Sure, they wouldn't ALL come but there are like 20 top guys missing who I'd like to see here and most are at the Dauphine instead.
 
I'm sure

Yes, there is that! I do think the racing at the Giro will be fun even if the field is really weak.

2 GTs before GdL is pretty normal and doesn't affect performance or preparation negatively. The last 8 winners had all gone to 2 GTs that year. Sure, a couple crashed out early but you have to go back to Zaugg to find a winner who didn't at least start 2 GTs their winning year and most were fighting at the top in both.

I know you often have guys who are well-suited to GdL end their season early and not race it but this year is just so much worse. Sure, they wouldn't ALL come but there are like 20 top guys missing who I'd like to see here and most are at the Dauphine instead.

It will be interesting. Lombardia often features GT riders who had already done a lot of racing. But they definitely all perform below their top level. Only two weeks earlier, Roglic got absolutely massacred in the WCC ITT by guys who were fresh (Evenepoel, Dennis...). It shows that it was a long season. So you can't say end-of-year form doesn't impact Lombardia, it certainly does, but it's a fair fight because it's the end of the season and everybody is knackered.
 
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If it hadn't come so quickly after the restart, I'd say SB should be subbed in for GdL when it comes to monument status for 2020. Yes, I know it's shorter...

Yes, the short ones are always discriminated against: "You want to be a monument? Look at you! You are short! And those roads, you call that roads?"

Seriously I am fine with this Lombardia-version, I think. The races are packed anyway. The contenders for this seem good enough. The only thing that could honestly be better would be if Roglic or Bernal or van Aert would come and you could actually see them race against Evenepoel - but this way Lombardia is like a nice, quiet little race with exquisite taste.
 
We have not yet seen him race against Fuglsang, have we? What if Fuglsang pulls it off... After all he was incredible last year. Seems to get better with the years. In Strade he himself went too early, maybe practising for a long range attack at Lombardia...

And then there's my favourite outcome: Kelderman winning!
 
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We have not yet seen him race against Fuglsang, have we? What if Fuglsang pulls it off... After all he was incredible last year. Seems to get better with the years. In Strade he himself went too early, maybe practising for a long range attack at Lombardia...

And then there's my favourite outcome: Kelderman winning!
Is him Evenepoel? Fuglsang was 2nd behind him in Poland last week.
 
We have not yet seen him race against Fuglsang, have we? What if Fuglsang pulls it off... After all he was incredible last year. Seems to get better with the years. In Strade he himself went too early, maybe practising for a long range attack at Lombardia...

And then there's my favourite outcome: Kelderman winning!

Well it looked like Remco and Fuglsang were riding two different races at the same time, I understand the confusion. Both were in Poland.
 

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