Lombardia’17: Photo Gallery!

Giro di Lombardia 2017: The final ‘Monument’ of 2017 was a battle of the favorites and the top man on the day was Vincenzo Nibali, to take his second Lombardia win, repeating his win of 2015. We catch up with the action with the photos of Cor Vos and RCS in our Giro di Lombardia photo gallery.

You can read the full PEZ race report HERE.

The start in Bergamo was under blue skies and mild temperatures. It wasn’t long before the break was up the road and building up a lead of 12 minutes.

The ‘Break of the Day’ was made up of Davide Ballerini (Androni-Giocattoli), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani CSF), Matthias Le Turnier (Cofidis), Pier Paolo De Negri (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Lennard Hofstede (Sunweb).

Bahrain-Merida, Cannondale-Drapac and Movistar took control of the peloton.

Trek-Segafredo, Lotto Soudal and Sky joined in the chase and with 70 kilometers to go the leaders only had 1 minute.

The next split was made up of Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Rodolfo Torres (Androni-Giocattoli), Mikael Cherel (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC).

Laurens De Plus was looking good but his race was ruined in a spectacular crash.

Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) couldn’t repeat his win in Milano-Torino on Thursday and finished 22nd.

De Plus hit the barrier and flew over a fence, luckily trees and bushes broke his fall.

Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale) also crashed on the descent of the Sormano, at the same place as De Plus. The Belgian rider fell into the ravine below. He never lost consciousness and was transferred to the San’t Anna hospital in Como. According to Eric Bouvat, head doctor for the AG2R-La Mondiale team: “Jan Bakelants is in stable condition. He is conscious and has no difficulty breathing or moving. After an x-ray and CT scan, the following injuries have been detected: Seven rib fractures, though without any impact on the lungs. A fracture-compaction of the first lumbar vertebra and the third lumbar vertebra, the latter of which will require additional examination. An MRI will be carried out.” Bakelants will spend the night in the hospital in Como.

Up front; Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) went solo on the climb.

Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) and Pello Bilbao (Astana) set up the chase and eventually caught Cherel.

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) made his move for victory, catching and passing everyone in front of him, but he was soon caught by Nibali.

As always Vincenzo Nibali was the best man on the tricky descent and dropped Pinot for his solo ride to the finish.

On the final climb, Nibali had a 17 second lead on Uran, Gianni Moscon and Diego Rosa (Sky), Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Fabio Aru (Astana).

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) caught Pinot and headed after Nibali, but the gap was too big.

A very happy Alaphilippe crossed the finish line 28 seconds down on Vincenzo Nibali.

Sky’s Gianni Moscon took the sprint for third 10 seconds after Alaphilippe, which was not received well by the members of AG2R-La Mondiale and FDJ, what he had done this time was not known.

Vincenzo Nibali added a second Lombardia to his long palmarès. He had this to say at the finish: “It was a perfect day, I was still better than two years ago and I think you have seen it. In the last flat part my speed was over 5o km/h and so it was not easy to catch me. For me, it was my 50th win and I wanted to point out at the finish line. I understand that I should have invented something. On the hardest part of Civiglio I started with a dry attack. I made a difference, I took Pinot and I have fallen down. It was nice to see so many people on the streets to fancy me, a really cool emotion. I had great support from my team. I had great physical condition from the end of the season, but everyone was looking to me as the favorite so it was not easy to win.”

Giro di Lombardia Result:
1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida in 6:15:29
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors at 0:28
3. Gianni Moscon (Ita) Sky at 0:38
4. Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale
5. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R-La Mondiale
7. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana
8. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Sky at 0:40
9. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 0:42
10. Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana at 0:47
11. Sam Oomen (Ned) Sunweb
12. Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC
13. Egan Bernal (Col) Androni-Giocattoli
14. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC
15. Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac at 1:12
16. Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R-La Mondiale
17. Diego Rosa (Ita) Sky
18. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team-Sunweb
19. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 1:26
20. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
21. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 2:20
22. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
23. Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale at 2:56
24. Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott at 3:00
25. Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ at 3:41
26. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe.