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The biggest names in cycling were once again out in force just one week after the UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany to contest the one-day autumn classic Il Lombardia.
Similar to the 2012 Il Lombardia and the recent Elite Men’s Road Race, the weather was once again rain affected.
With Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha claiming victory in the one-day classic after again attacking on the climb of the Villa Vergano.
Before live TV coverage of the race begun, several cyclists were involved in a crash out on the course, with Vincenzo Nibali the most prominent name involved.
The Italian did not look comfortable after the crash and would eventually abandon the race altogether. There would be a few other smaller crashes later throughout the day due to fatigue and the weather.
Several different breakaways would form throughout the race, however, the most prominent breakaway of the day would involve just one rider.
Thomas Voeckler of Europcar attacked from the peloton with 60.7 kilometres of the race remaining, gaining a time advantage as large as two minutes and 55 seconds.
The French cyclist would ultimately be caught by a much-reduced peloton with just over 11 kilometres remaining.
The difficulty of the parcours would see the peloton whittled down to just above 30 riders after the climb of the Madonna del Ghisallo, some 8.5 kilometres in length at an average gradient of 6.2 percent.
Former World Champion and BMC cyclist Philippe Gilbert was fighting hard to remain with the peloton.
New reigning World Champion Rui Costa would not compete for the race victory, instead working intently to help chase Voeckler for Alejandro Valverde.
With the Portuguese cyclist eventually exhausting his energy stores and dropping off the rear of the peloton.
Thibaut Pinot of FDJ.fr attempted to break free of the group as the peloton begun the hardest section of the Villa Vergano.
This was quickly followed up by an attack by lightweight Italian climber Domencio Pozzovivo of AG2R La Mondiale. When the lead group was whittled down to just six riders, Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha launched his calculated attack.
It would be up to Daniel Martin of Garmin-Sharp, Alejandro Valverde of Team Movistar, and Rafal Majka of Team Saxo-Tinkoff to chase Joaquim Rodriguez.
Rodriguez opened up a time gap of approximately twenty seconds over the ascent and descent of the Villa Vergano, as Valverde was forced to chase Rodriguez solo after distancing Majka and Martin during the descent.
Ultimately, no one would be able to catch up to Joaquim Rodriguez, who went on to repeat his 2012 victory in Il Lombardia.
After the disappointment and heartbreak of the UCI World Championships Elite Men’s Road Race, the Catalonian could be emotional after the conclusion of the Il Lombardia for all the right reasons.
Alejandro Valverde finished some 17 seconds behind race winner Rodriguez, and Polish cyclist Rafal Majka of Team Saxo-Tinkoff some 23 second behind in third.
Joaquim Rodriguez now appears set to once again claim victory in the World Tour rankings for yet another year.
However, with the Tour of Beijing still to come, and just a 20-point gap back to Chris Froome of Team Sky, someone could yet pip Rodriguez to the title with a great result in China.
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