The Race of Falling Leaves
More commonly known as Il Lombardia. This is the final World Tour race of the year, and is known for its beautiful fall weather as well as for being quite brutal!
As the 5th and final monument race of the year, Lombardia traverses the Bergamo to Lake Como region of Italy. Passing through ‘falling leaves’ while winding its way over steep climbs for 240 km.
Looking to finish the season out on a high with Lotto NL Jumbo before the World Championships, I was very motivated. Robert and I flew to Italy 3 days early to check out the finale…it was a special edition of the race celebrating its 110th birthday so it was going to be an unordinary difficult parkour in this edition.
I always love going to Italy. It is a special place for cycling. The traveled history of racing and famous champions is still tightly wound into the DNA that is Italy. Cycling is not an activity or a hobby there, it’s a lifestyle!
After flying into Bergamo from Girona, we went for a short ride to spin out the legs p…
