We have grown quite accustomed to the alternating starts and finishes between Como and Bergamo at Il Lombardia: it’s quite simple, one year one hosts the start, the next year the finish, and vice versa. It’s been like this since 2014, although from 2017 to 2020, the so-called Dead Leaves Classic consistently went from Bergamo to Como. In the race’s history, only Milan has been featured more often than Como which, in 2024, will serve as the finish location for the 38th time.
Before 2015, whenever the peloton arrived at the scenic lakeside in Como, the start would typically have taken place in either Milan or Brescia, and later Mendrisio. The first time Bergamo hosted a start of Il Lombardia dates back nine years ago. On that occasion, compared to the 2024 route, the finale was even tougher, with the climbs of Ghisallo, Colma, and the Muro di Sormano, followed by Civiglio and San Fermo della Battaglia. It was the perfect route for long-distance riders with strong climbing legs, such as Vincenzo Nibali, who ended an Italian victory drought that had lasted since Damiano Cunego’s 2008 win with a dazzling solo effort while wearing the tricolore jersey.
“He drifts through the first three bends,” reported the Corriere della Sera. “His knee almost brushes the guardrail, the bike is parallel to the tarmac, yet he doesn’t fall. After the fourth hairpin, he threads the needle between a wall and an assistance motorbike, yet he doesn’t crash. On the final climb, fatigue takes its toll, and he loses ground, but no one catches him. Yesterday, for 19 minutes and 52 seconds, from the moment he attacked, pushing the limits of risk on the descent from Civiglio to the finish line in Como, Vincenzo Nibali gave millions of TV viewers goosebumps.”
For “The Shark of the Strait,” Il Lombardia 2015 marked his first ever Monument win, which he followed with victories at Il Lombardia 2017 and Milano-Sanremo 2018. That first victory was especially sweet as it came after a rollercoaster of a season, where he couldn’t replicate his 2014 Tour de France form and was even disqualified from the Vuelta a España after two stages due to towing.
“The expulsion from the Vuelta, which I take full responsibility for, was the best thing that could’ve happened to me: it filled me with incredible anger that, luckily, I channeled into the bike and nowhere else.” Champion mentality.
