Il Lombardia 2013

The road

At the start

A rematch, seven days after Florence

Bergamo, seven days after Florence, and the whole of that field is here for a rematch on the road to Lecco. Rui Costa lines up in the rainbow jersey for the first time. Joaquim Rodríguez, second at the Worlds and the winner here twelve months ago, is the favourite — and riding for a WorldTour title as well. Urán and Dan Martin, who both crashed out in Florence, want amends. The cloud is already low on the mountains.

How it was won

1. 1158 km to go

   Six go on the Valcava

   There was tentative sunshine in Bergamo; by the time the race is climbing, the cloud is sitting on the tops of the mountains and soaking everybody. On the Valico di Valcava the day's move finally forms — Felline, De Marchi, Albasini, Hollenstein, Quintero and Wauters. Behind them Peter Sagan calls it a day, and a little later so does Andy Schleck.

2. 2114 km to go

   Two minutes down to nothing

   Albasini and Felline are dropped first and the four who remain never really get away with it. On the Colle Brianza, at the midpoint of the race, two minutes becomes a handful of seconds and the race is one bunch again — until twenty-one riders come over the crest with a gap.

3. 389 km to go

   Nibali's autumn ends on a corner

   The twenty-one are still in front on the approach to the Colma di Sormano when a crash goes down leading into the climb. Vincenzo Nibali, who won the Giro d'Italia in May and was in the front group at the Worlds a week ago, limps away from it towards the ambulance, favouring his left knee.

4. 482 km to go

   The Muro takes Contador

   The wall of the Sormano — a road steep enough that it was abandoned for forty years — swallows what is left of the break on its lower slopes, and Saxo-Tinkoff drive the peloton up it until they lose Alberto Contador before the top. Over the summit it is Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde who have the gap, with Gasparotto, Caruso and Santaromita joining them on a treacherous descent.

5. 554 km to go

   Voeckler, and nobody bites

   On the road to Bellagio the chase closes to within reach of the five, and Thomas Voeckler jumps, bridges, and then rides straight through them and away. With the Madonna del Ghisallo ahead, the group behind is happy to watch him burn every match he owns. Only Marcel Wyss goes after him, and a crash ends that.

6. 69 km to go

   Two turns of speed

   Voeckler's defence is futile from a long way out; he tears his earpiece out theatrically as Mickaël Chérel leads the reduced bunch up onto his wheel on the lower slopes. Then Pozzovivo goes to the front and holds it hard into the final ramps — and Joaquim Rodríguez plays two cards in quick succession, the first to close down Pozzovivo and Pinot, the second, on fifteen per cent, to leave the race behind entirely. Exactly as he did a year ago, on exactly this road.

7. 7At the line

   Down the wet descent to Lecco

   Behind him the chase falls apart on the slick road down: Valverde drops Majka and Dan Martin, and Martin then loses the front wheel on the last corner. Rodríguez comes into Lecco seventeen seconds clear and defends his title — a week after being beaten to the rainbow jersey by a rider nobody had been watching.

The result