Jakob Fuglsang's joy at Il Lombardia win, crash for Evenepoel

Astana Pro Team riders outnumber George Bennett to finish first and third (with Vlasov). Evenepoel suffers injury crashing on the decent after the Muro di Sormano.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) became the first Dane to win Il Lombardia as he soloed to victory up the San Fermo della Battaglia, the last climb preceding the grand finale near Lake Como. With the help of his Russian team-mate Aleksandr Vlasov, he managed to dispose of GranPiemonte presented by EOLO winner George Bennett (Team Jumbo-Visma) who crossed the line in second place, being the first rider from New Zealand on the podium of Il Lombardia presented by UBI Banca.

REMCO EVENEPOEL MEDICAL UPDATE FROM THE SANT’ANNA HOSPITAL OF SAN FERMO DELLA BATTAGLIA

The Sant’Anna hospital in San Fermo della Battaglia issued the following statement: “The patient arrived at the hospital cooperating and alert. Following the fall he suffered a series of metatraumatic injuries to the pelvis. Further investigations are underway for the definition of the therapeutic path.”

FINAL RESULT

1 – Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) – 231km in 5:32’54”, average speed 41.634 km/h
2 – George Bennett (Team Jumbo – Visma) at 31″
3 – Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Pro Team) at 51″

STATISTICS

Jakob Fuglsang is the first Danish winner of Il Lombardia presented by UBI Banca. The record book of the race now counts 13 winning nations (from Italy with 69 victories to Luxembourg, Russia, Great Britain, Lithuania and Colombia with one each).

At the age of 35 years and 146 days, Jakob Fuglsang is the third oldest winner of Il Lombardia presented by UBI Banca after Tano Belloni (36 years and 69 days in 1928) and Sean Kelly who was only two days older than Fuglsang today when he won the race in 1991.

Aleksandr Vlasov is the third Russian on the podium after Vladimir Bobrik who won in 1994 and Alexander Kolobnev who came third in 2009.

Quotes from the press conference

The winner, Jakob Fuglsang. said in the post-race press conference: “If this is a masterpiece I hope it’s not my last big win. It makes me super happy. I took advantage of my good form in the beginning of the new start of the season. I knew that I would have a good chance today. We had a very strong team. Alexandr Vlasov did an excellent job for me to keep the Trek-Segafredo riders behind us. I knew that in a sprint I would have probably been faster than George [Bennett] but when he attacked on San Fermo [della Battaglia], I realized that his attacks were short, so I sped up and I put him in difficulty. Before that, knowing Vincenzo Nibali very well, I understood that I was fresher than him and the rest of the breakaway. In this difficult season with races being rescheduled, I’m delighted to have already won something big.”

Second-placed George Bennett said: “A great week for me overall, after my victory in the GranPiemonte on Wednesday and today’s second place, I can’t feel disappointed. I thought I could have won it, being on the front with two Astana riders, I wanted to try to drop then and not risk arriving at the sprint against the two of them. I tried but it was too much… and Jakob dropped me! Still a great race and lots of fun. At the moment I am a bit disappointed but I am sure when I will look back at this week I will be happy thinking about it!.”

Third-placed Aleksandr Vlasov, said: “With Jakob we did great teamwork, we raced united and always in front and in the end, it paid off for us. Last year I finished third from last, this year third, on the podium, I made a big improvement and I’m happy with this result!”