Pogačar on the brink of Il Lombardia immortality as he chases historic 4-peat

• World Champion hunting down a historic 4 Lombardia wins in a row
• •   All-star lineup for the final monument of the 2024 season
• •   UAE Team Emirates looking to secure back-to-back UCI #1 Ranking

News | Team – 10th October 2024

UAE Team Emirates head into the final monument of the season – Il Lombardia – once again sitting atop of the UCI World Rankings. World Champion Tadej Pogačar will be spearheading a strong UAE Team Emirates team on the back of his first win in the rainbow stripes at the Giro dell’Emilia, setting himself up perfectly to end the season on a high in Lombardy.

The fifth and final monument of the 2024 season, ‘The Race of the Falling Leaves’ has produced a handful of Pogačar’s stand out performances, with the Slovenian superstar securing victory in the last three editions of the race. After what has been an extraordinary season, Pogačar will be looking to secure a fourth successive Il Lombardia title to add to his illustrious Triple Crown and 5 one-day wins in 2024.

Pogačar is no stranger to one-day racing, delivering iconic performances throughout his career with notable wins at Strade Bianche, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and most recently at the World Championships in Zurich, where he demonstrated once again that he is the premier cyclist on the planet with a 100KM solo attack to take the World Champion jersey.

Tadej Pogačar: “It’s been an amazing season and I want nothing more than to finish it off in the best way possible. My first outing as World Champion at Giro dell’Emilia couldn’t have gone better, to take my first win in that jersey is something I won’t forget. I can’t wait for Il Lombardia. Every day that you wear the rainbow jersey you need to prove you are still the best. I have an amazing team behind me and think we have a great chance of winning again.”

UAE Team Emirates’ quest for history will be pushed to the limit by a remarkably strong field of opponents. INEOS Grenadier rider, Tom Pidcock, will be aiming to have a big say on the outcome of the race. After a fine start to the season winning Amstel Gold, the Briton will be aiming to hit top form once again after battling through illness and injury this season.

Double Olympic Gold Medallist Remco Evenepoel will be setting his sights on adding to his one-day palmares which already includes two monument wins at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2022 and 2023. The Belgian, who will be donning his new golden bike, has had some monumental battles with Pogačar in recent years which fans can expect to see more of on Saturday.

The 118th edition of the race will take place on Saturday 12th October. The riders will battle it out over 252km from Bergamo to the scenic Como. The last of the five monuments on the calendar will provide ferocious racing with 4,800m of climbing pushing the riders to their limits. The famous Colma di Sormano (13.1km at 6.5%) with 45km to go could be a decisive moment in the race. The demanding climb will provide the explosive Pogačar a golden opportunity to launch one of his trademark attacks.

UAE Team Emirates enter Il Lombardia on the verge of rewriting cycling’s record books, with 80 wins already this season they are closing in on the 85-win milestone set by Columbia-HTC in 2009. Leading the charge is none other than Tadej Pogačar, the undoubted King of the peloton. Pogačar will be looking to claim win number 81 for the team – and a staggering 25th for himself – as they continue their relentless pursuit of greatness.