Bauke Mollema won the 113th edition of the Giro di Lombardia in Como, Italy, today. Photo: LaPresse
Bauke Mollema timed his breakaway perfectly in the 243km Giro di Lombardia to take a solo victory in Como, Italy, today.
Spain’s Alejandro Valverde followed 16 seconds later, making it his third second place at the race nicknamed “the Classic of the falling leaves”.
Tour de France winner Egan Bernal finished on the back of Valverde’s wheel to take third.
Mollema saw his opportunity to attack with less than 20km remaining, leaving the rest of the favourites in his wake.
With a hesitant group of contenders behind him, the 32-year-old opened up a gap of 20 seconds not long after his move.
The elite chase group – which featured the likes of Vuelta a España winner Primoz Roglic, Bernal, Valverde and Jakob Fuglsang – showed little collaboration as Mollema, 30 seconds in front, made his way down the Civiglio’s descent.
With 7km to the finish, Roglic made his move in pursuit of the Dutchman, who maintained a steady gap over the rest of the chasers.
But not long thereafter, Valverde, Fuglsang, Michael Woods and Bernal joined Roglic as they rode up the final climb of the day, the San Fermo della Battaglia.
With 4km to go, Valverde made a last-ditch effort to catch the Trek-Segafredo rider, who was 25 seconds ahead, but he had left it too late as Mollema surged to victory.
“I can’t believe I’ve won a Monument. I wasn’t the favourite so maybe the other riders underestimated me a bit,” said Mollema.
“But I felt really good the whole week already and so I just waited for my moment and luckily it was today.”
View the results below.
Results
1. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 5:52:59
2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team +0:00:16
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos
4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
5. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First +0:00:34
6. Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
7. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
8. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe +0:00:50
9. Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
10. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
*Selected
99. Louis Meintjes (RSA) Team Dimension Data +0:19:55
DNF Jaco Venter (RSA) Team Dimension Data
