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Tadej Pogačar claimed his hat-trick at Il Lombardia to end his season in sensational fashion.
The Slovenian megastar attacked alone 30km from the finish and held off an elite pack of chasers to join Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi as a winner of three-straight editions of the the Italian monument.
Victory on Saturday ends another wildly successful season for Pogačar.
UAE Team Emirates‘ team talisman already added the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Paris-Nice to his drastically diverse palmarès this year.
“To win the third time, [from my] third participation, it is a dream to come solo,” Pogačar said at the finish. “Today it was fantastic. I was enjoying the last few kilometers, even if it was so, so painful. To win Lombardy a third time is incredible.”
Andrea Bagioli (Soudal Quick-Step) won the reduced sprint for second, while Primož Roglič ended his Jumbo-Visma career by placing third.
✅ Three @Il_Lombardia wins in a row.
🏆🏆🏆 @TamauPogi #UAETeamEmirates #WeAreUAE #Ilombardia pic.twitter.com/g4lZX06NU2
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) October 7, 2023
Pogačar made his winning move over the summit of the day’s final major ascent and looked to be roaring to emphatic victory when a bout of cramps piled jeopardy onto the final kilometers.
“First on my right leg, a cramp, and then the left one. I was thinking that was it, but I pushed through,” he said.
“I lowered down the power, I just focused on being as aero as possible and to save myself for the final kick. I hoped there would not be such a good collaboration behind, which probably wasn’t as I was gaining, though I was not going so fast.”
Pre-race favorite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was dropped 35km from the finish when UAE Emirates put on the pain with Adam Yates.
The young Belgian looked to be out of the running but made it back to a chaser group – yet it was all too late to stop the “Pogačar express” once it hit full momentum.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was met by hundreds of French fans that piled across the border to see him at his final race before retirement.
Et la Curva explosa ! Chaos, bain de foule en pleine course pour Thibault Pinot #CurvaPinot #Pinot #IlLomBardi pic.twitter.com/bC9O9cToX1
— Thomas-Sean de Saint Leger (@ThomasdeStLeger) October 7, 2023
The 33-year-old didn’t make an impression on the action but was treated to a hero’s welcome by his “Ultras Pinot” fan-club of the small final climb close to the finish line.
He crossed the line flanked by teammates in an emotional end to his time in the pro peloton.
“That’s it, it’s finished. It has been crazy. I’m at the end of the road now,” Pinot told reporters.
“It was absolutely brilliant. It was magnificent. I knew the race was going to be a complicated day. I knew I had to finish. I think I got to my level that I’m at at the minute, the last 50 guys, it was a difficult climb to come to the end but that’s how I did it today. ”
Pogačar does the damage on the downhill
Pogačar attacked first on the final major climb and made the difference on the downhill. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The group of favorites started to move on the Passo di Ganda, 35km from the finish.
Adam Yates cranked the pace to reel back attacker Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and breakaway survivor Martin Marcellusi (Green Project -Bardiani) and force the day’s selection
Pogačar and Roglič were in the elite split with the likes of Bagioli, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), while Evenepoel slid straight out the back.
Soudal-Quick-Step dropped back to support its young captain and eventually pulled him back to one of the chasing groups.
Pogačar started to launch “project hat-trick” 33km from the line. He attacked once to shake all his rivals except Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).
The group reformed soon afterward before Pogačar snuck away over the summit of what was the day’s final major climb.
“I tried to attack on the climb. But actually Vlasov was one of the strongest. But I knew the climb really well and I didn’t give up until the top. I was hoping that me and Aleksandr would go to the finish, that we would collaborate to the finish line, but the other competitors came from behind pretty good,” Pogačar said.
Once Pogačar got a gap on the descent, he wasn’t being brought back.
The 25-year-old railed the long drop from the Passo di Ganda and survived what appeared to be a bout of cramp in the final 10km to claim his 63rd career win with a 51-second winning margin.
Pogacar en 2023:
🏆 Tour de Flandes
🏆 Giro Il Lombardia
🏆 París-Niza+3 etapas
🏆 Amstel Gold Race
🏆 Flecha Valona
🏆 Campeón Eslovenia ruta+CRI
🏆 Vuelta Andalucía+3 etapas
🏆 Jaén Paraíso Interior
🥈 Tour de Francia+2 etapas
Meh, pero no ha ganado el Tour… 😂🙌 pic.twitter.com/kSLNXMmi8y
— Abel Rodríguez (@Abeleter) October 7, 2023
“It was just in the moment that I got a little gap. I knew the descent much better than two years ago, two years ago this descent was a bit of a disaster for me. But today I gave it all,” Pogačar said at the finish.
“It was tough to go so far to the finish, today was a super hard race every climb.”
Crashes for Evenepoel and the contenders
Evenepoel crashed early but recovered to hit a top-10.
Evenepoel’s day didn’t start the right way Saturday. The 23-year-old was caught in a crash with 220km to go and raced the final 5+ hours with a bloodied and bandaged elbow and knee.
Outside contenders Carapaz and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) were in a spill 65km from the finish, along with U.S. star Matteo Jorgenson (Astana-Qazaqstan), and former champions Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Qazaqstan).
They all appeared unhurt and got back on the bike but suffered a long chase back to the bunch.
Carapaz dug deep to make the final chase group and finished up eighth in the reduced sprint for the podium.
Enric Mas (Movistar) abandoned midway through the race in an anonymous return to the race where he finished second last year.