Il Lombardia 2024, one day monument, October 12, farewell to Domenico Pozzovivo

[gregrowlerson]

Sky only won 2 monuments and as far as I remember never won this race.

They only ruined some stage races usually, mostly the tour/dauphine and a couple of others, and even then it was more exciting than this, at least there was a bit of tension.

I think there's a fair bit of "back in my day" rose tinted glasses revisionist history being done with Sky in terms of their entertainment value. The Froome/Porte 1-2 punch on a couple of first MTF's were memorable, as was Froome's exploits on Finestre obviously, but most forum members considered that era pretty damn dull, at the time.

 

[Pantani_lives]

This was the most predictable classic I've seen, and yet I didn't find it boring. You get some of the best riders in the world going full for over an hour. It was interesting to see how UAE controlled the race and what the other teams did in an attempt to avoid the unavoidable.

I've seen a lot of races where nothing interesting happened until the final 10 km. At least now the race is on from afar. Of course when they attack early it can also mean the decision comes early.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Sivakov almost crashed into a lady of reasonable carriage crossing the road Could've been disastrous.

From Sky era trains to Pogacar era near train wrecks.

 

[proffate]

Race highlights

View: https://youtu.be/_O6PlaeKrJ0?si=cpmJL95fbHGZsa_6

somber chords to set the mood

 

[gregrowlerson]

It is really mindblowing to me that you can derstoy the whole field on a monument by over 2 minutes and still look bleak and vulnerable, because of one other cyclist, who happens to be cosplaying some old belgian dude from the 70ies.

Remco bringing a knife to a gun fight.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Expecting Evenepoel to get off the bike and chin a random fan

Hemingway would approve.

 

[gunara]

somber chords to set the mood

Yeah, weird music choice

 

[gregrowlerson]

somber chords to set the mood

Red Rick quit moderation and took up music.

 

[Rob5091]

Good to see Lenny VE back and farewell Pozzovivo. Otherwise business as usual.

 

[Salvarani]

So far that rivalry turns out to be no rivalry at all. Maybe next year in Liege when they are bot fresh. But going on what we see here, I think Teddy will sprint away uphill there as well.

So far the most thrilling rivalries I've seen with Teddy, are where he takes the fight to MvdP on Mvdp's terrain and with Vingegaard in the Tour.

Thinking a bit more about it. The best rivalry in cycling is still MvdP vs WvA, even now that matthieu seems to have the upper hand, there are still the brief moments like in the Olympics where Wout is the only one who can hold Mattieus wheel when he tries to sprint away on this steep short hill.

The Remco vs Van Aert national team rivalry is one for the ages as well.

Remco vs guys on his wheel rivalry doesnt seem to go away either.

These are very interesting to follow up more on.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Remco can’t expect to compete with UAE whilst riding for Soudal. They are just not strong enough in a climbers race. Visma or Ineos, maybe, but not Soudal. If he wants to compete with Pogačar he needs more support.

I don't think it matters which team he is on. He will get the leftovers of whatever Pog decides to leave. It's just an unlucky time for him.

 

[Scarponi]

We'll see, but for now there is this horde, this very loud minority that seems to find this exciting. Either way, I am going to make it very easy for myself: if he is riding, I ain't watching.

Giro del Veneto next week, proper ciclismo.

So you dislike Roglic for sprinting at end and hate Pog for attacking from too far. What’s your perfect winning range? 10km?

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

How is Sivakov catching these two?

By avoiding ladies of reasonable carriage.

 

[Roku]

I understand that races like this year Paris Tours with almost 2 hours of action and great racing are considered more entertaining than Lombardía or any race won by such a display of dominance by Tadej or any other rider.

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

Pogacar is a much better representation of cycling than the standard Grand Tour racing of the 2010 era with the robotic Sky train, the infamous Vuelta wall climbs where everyone held their hands until the last 500m accelerations, spearheaded by Purito - who by the way was one of the main protagonist of the 2012 Giro, probably one of the all time worst grand tours ever (bar the Stelvio stage thanks to Thomas de Gendt).

 

[Coffeeplanter]

So you dislike Roglic for sprinting at end and hate Pog for attacking from too far. What’s your perfect winning range? 10km?

I dislike Roglic for racing like he's Simon Gerrans, that is something completely different than disliking him for sprinting.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

OK, so watched this beautiful monument this night, just few hours ago.

After all, you can set your alarm clock after Pogi's intervention with surgical precision.

What I missed about the TV producer was that he hadn't fallen asleep. Having over 50% TV images displaying a more or less static situation between No. 1 and 2 in the race for final 40k is not good TV to me.

For instance I missed several close-ups of how Sivakov and especially Ciccione made comebacks and many more in 3rd and 4th row

Yesterday afternoon I was on Strava, where I could identify that Powless set the fastest section downhill Sormano where Pogi and Remco was in attack mode. I was also surprised to see him back in the next group. With TV images and a helicopter that hadn't crashed into the abyss of sleep, you must have witnessed something of a raid here.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogacar started and finished this season with two of the best all time performances in both Strade and Lombardia.

 

[Lequack]

Quickstep montage

https://twitter.com/x/status/1845192364794478744

View: https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1845192364794478744

Also

https://twitter.com/x/status/1845452427920539765

View: https://twitter.com/Il_Lombardia/status/1845452427920539765

 

[Lequack]

Domenico Pozzovivo emotionally greets the audience after #iLombardia : having closed an important chapter of his life, the 42-year-old from Basilicata is ready to open another, even more important one

Il Lombardia 2024, l'ultima di Domenico Pozzovivo: "Il ciclismo mi ha dato tanto, ma ora è il momento di dedicarmi ad altro"

Domenico Pozzovivo saluta emozionato il pubblico dopo Il Lombardia 2024. Lo scalatore lucano chiude un lungo capitolo della sua vita nella Classica delle Foglie Morte, che onora fino alla fine portandola a termine per godere dello splendido applauso del pubblico sul traguardo di Como. Con la...

cyclingpro.net

 

[Fantastico]

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

There's also some middle ground between these two extremes.

 

[Red Rick]

I understand that races like this year Paris Tours with almost 2 hours of action and great racing are considered more entertaining than Lombardía or any race won by such a display of dominance by Tadej or any other rider.

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

Extremely generous to call this 'action' when he just rides away, nobody tries to follow and it's just watching paint dry for 50km.

I don't know why watching paint dry after the race is over is so preferable to not knowing what's gonna happen.

Finally, on this route the race would always unfold on Colma di Sormano. You don't need Pogacar for that.

 

[Brullnux]

So you dislike Roglic for sprinting at end and hate Pog for attacking from too far. What’s your perfect winning range? 10km?

It's not how Pogacar races it's the fact he's 10% better than everyone else. It's just dull. Domination is always dull.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Remco vs Van Aert national team rivalry is one for the ages as well.

Remco vs guys on his wheel rivalry doesnt seem to go away either.

These are very interesting to follow up more on.

Biggest rivalry in cycling is Vingegaard vs Pogacar.
After that is MVP vs Pogacar. I will write a legendary quote made my Sharapova.
"You can't call a rivalry when I'm always get spanked by her" (Serena). WVA can't win a big race when MVP and Pogacar are racing. He only can make MVP lose, offering wins to his teammate Remco. Loser mentality to be honest.
And please there is no rivalry in Remco vs Pogacar. When I hear Remco is getting closer to Pogacar, I just have goosebumps. Pogacar drops Remco wherever he wants and puts 2 minutes easily. It's like saying peak Contador and peak Valverde were similar and equal in the high mountains.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Biggest rivalry in cycling is Vingegaard vs Pogacar.

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. They rarely race each other, apart from July. What about the rest of the season? Spring classics, World championships, autumn Italian races?

 

[Peyroteo94]

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. They rarely race each other, apart from July. What about the rest of the season? Spring classics, World championships, autumn Italian races?

So MVP vs WVA in 2 or 3 cobbled classics is better? Tell me where are they competing if we exclude RVV and PR (road racing of course)?