Giro di Lombardia

On this page: || Most wins | Best British performances | History | List of winners

Most Wins

• 5 wins: Fausto Coppi
• 4 wins: Alfredo Binda
• 3 wins: Gaetamo Belloni, Henri Pélissier, Costante Girardengo, Gino Bartali, Sean Kelly

Best British Performances

• 1st: Tommy Simpson, 1965
• 3rd: Max Sciandri, 1993
• 4th: Robert Millar, 1990
• 7th: Max Sciandri, 2001
• 10th: Tommy Simpson, 1963; Bill Bilsland, 1970

History

On November 12 1905 a mud-encrusted Giovanni Gerbi crossed the line in Milan victorious, 230 kilometres after starting, in the inaugural Giro di Lombardia. It was a victory based on minute knowledge of the muddy tracks over which the race was fought. Feigning a crash just before a distinct narrowing in the road, Gerbi's rivals were provoked into attacking, but themselves crashed as they hit the narrow section. Gerbi, meanwhile, picked his way through the mass of bodies to strike out alone and, eventually, win by over 40 minutes!

The race rapidly attained classic status; there is little doubt that the likes of Garrigou, Faber, Thys, Pélissier and Belloni represent the best riders of the early years of the sport. However, as the road surfaces improved, the race became faster and easier. Each Italian team would have its protected rider and a squad of totally devoted gregari; every event between 1921 and 1949 was won by an Italian, and half of those by just four riders - Girardengo, Binda, Bartali and Coppi. Accordingly, more hills were added in the 1920s. Most notable was the dirt road up to the 2000 foot high Madonna del Ghisallo, a name indelibly intertwined with that of Fausto Coppi. Nonetheless, in the absence of a talent like Coppi, as the roads improved, the route ceased being hard enough to split the field; most of the winners in the 'fifties came from sprints on the Vigorelli track in Milan. The surfacing of the Ghisallo sounded the death knell of the "old" Lombardia.

In 1960 a new climb was added, the Sormano, with gradients as steep as 1 in 5 (20%), but the big difference came the next year, when the finish was moved from Milan to Como, eliminating 60-odd kilometres of flat road after the mountains. In 1965 the "classic" route was used for the first time, circling Lake Como: the easier sides of the Sormano and Ghisallo in the first couple of hours, with the climbs to Intelvi, Schignano and San Fermo in the last 65 kilomteres. Even so, the character of the route is slowly changing. Twenty or more years ago, the three big climbs were still paved with large rose-coloured setts and the linking sections of road along the shore of the lake were all up and down over headlands, with sections still unsurfaced. Today the last of the setts have gone, the lakeside road is fully paved and tunnels have been blasted through many of the headlands. Easier, perhaps, but no race with five long climbs can ever be called easy, and and the lakeside setting makes "The race of the falling leaves" still amongst the most beautiful of classics.

The Autumn Double

Not related to each other in either location or topography, Paris - Tours and the Tour of Lombardy nonetheless remain connected by taking place within a week or so of each other, but months separated from all the other classics. The two thus became known as the Autumn Double. Only three riders have successfully completed the double: Philippe Thys in 1917, Rik Van Looy in 1959 and Jo De Roo in 1962 and 1963.

Another rare double is Lombardy / World Professional Road Race. Generally, a successful World Champion has not been too concerned about carrying on training to ride the last classic of the year when more money could be made from criteriums and promotional work; this was especially the case when the Worlds were in August, though now that the Worlds and Lombardy take place on succesive weekends, the double may become more common. To date, 6 riders have completed the double - Alfredo Binda in 1927, Tommy Simpson in 1965, Eddy Merckx in 1971, Felice Gimondi in 1973, Giuseppe Saronni in 1982 and Oskar Camenzind in 1998. I wonder if Camenzind will live up to the standards of his illustrious forebears?

Winners