Tour of Lombardy roundup
ShareThis
“Really foul weather” were the words used by Dave Harmon on the Eurosport commentary during Saturday’s Tour of Lombardy. The rain poured down and the peloton was decimated as only 34 out of the 195 riders finished the last big race of the 2010 pro calendar.
Perhaps it was no surprise that in such conditions Philippe Gilbert of Belgium (used to a bit of the wet stuff in the flat lands), completing an exceptional season in the one day classics and reinforcing his reputation as one of the strongest riders in such events crossed the finish line first. He put the hammer down on the the final San Fermo di Battaglia climb to drop Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli) and win the final classic of the season by 12 seconds.
The “foul weather” brought back memories of the great stage over the strada bianchi in this year’s edition of the Giro d’Italia. On that day the heavens opened and, like yesterday, there were crashes galore. That day Nibali and Basso came a cropper, and on Saturday it was almost an exception for a rider to stay upright (Nibali crashing again!).
As an aside, Hushovd began his first race in the rainbow jersey, following his recent win in Geelong, but he was amonst the majority, in having a DNF by his name at the end of the day.