The 2025 Giro di Lombardia promises to be the most demanding of cycling’s five Monuments, with a grueling 238 km course and 4,400 meters of climbing from Como to Bergamo. The race’s “easier” directional route still features relentless climbs like the Roncola, Berbenno, Passo della Crocetta, and the decisive Passo di Ganda before a final punchy ascent up the cobbled Colle Aperto. Tadej Pogačar, winner of the last two editions and seemingly unstoppable after dominant wins at the World and European Championships, headlines the contenders.
Pogacar winning in Bergamo in 2023.
A fifth Lombardia victory would place him alongside legends like Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx, with those legends seemingly his only competition. His key rival remains Remco Evenepoel, consistently second-best in major hilly races, while Tom Pidcock, Primož Roglič, and rising star Paul Seixas round out a field full of talent. The lead-up Italian races have highlighted both form and fatigue, but with Pogačar targeting history, the rest of the peloton may be battling for second place once again.
Bergamo’s ancient wall make a majestic backdrop to close out the racing season.
The Course
The 2025 Giro di Lombardia is the hardest on paper of the five monuments, at 238 km long with 4,400 meters of climbing; only Liege-Bastogne-Liege coming close at 4,300 meters of climbing. This year’s edition traverses the race’s “easier” route from Como to Bergamo, Italy (the harder route goes in reverse, with the race changing direction each year).
The race starts in Como and quickly (after about 35km of rolling terrain) hits the Madonna del Ghisallo climb from the easier Asso side (8.8km at 3.9%), the climb that shares its fame with the shrine of Madonna del Ghisallo, the patroness of cyclists. The race then descends that iconic hill and heads along the shores of Lake Como, where the serious climbing is paused until the race enters the pre-Alpine hills of the Bergamo region at about 100km into the race.
At that point, the race hits its climb-heavy midsection (which really extends all the way through the final) punctuated by the Roncolo at about 137km to go (9.4km at an average 6.6%, but with gradients up to 17% in some sections), the Berbenno at about 109km to go (6.8 km at 4.6%), the Passo della Crocetta at about 76km to go (11km at 6.2%), the Zambia Alta at about 64km to go (9.5km at 3.5%), and the Passo di Ganda at about 32km to go (9km at an average 7.1%, with a number of steeper sections toward the top of the climb).
After the race crests the Passo di Ganda, the riders will sweep down a breathtaking 19 switchbacks and then hit a short 9km flat section before the final climb, the Colle Aperto (about 1.5km at 7.9%, with steep cobbled sections), the top of which is only about 3km from the finish. From there, the race will go down a fast descent to the finish in Bergamo Alta.
Pez rides the bumpy cobbles of the last climb into Bergamo’s Citta Alta at the 2008 Giro d’Italia. This climb is a stinger at the end of a 250km race.
Previous Editions
In 2024, with the race running generally westward from Bergamo to Como, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) attacked on the Colma di Sormano with about 48 km to go and was initially chased by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Enric Mas (Movistar), and Lennert van Eevelt (Lotto). Evenepoel attacked the chase group on the descent of the Sormano but continued to lose time to Pogačar, eventually finishing in second place over three minutes down. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) made his way through the chasers to finish third.
Pogačar won in 2023 as well, attacking with Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on the Passo di Ganda and dropping him on the descent. Pogačar maintained a gap of about a minute over an elite chase group with Vlasov, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos), Primož Roglič (then with Jumbo-Visma), and Andrea Bagioli (in his last race with Soudal Quick-Step, now at Lidl-Trek). Despite reportedly suffering cramps in the final, Pogačar held his gap to the chasers and won by 52 seconds in front of Bagioli, with Roglič in third.
The Lead-Up Races – Who’s Hot This Week
There are several Italian hilly one-day races leading up to Lombardia that can provide hints as to who is on form and motivated for the last monument of the season. The Giro dell’Emilia (199km with 2,900 meters of climbing) was held on Saturday, October 4 and was won by Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG), who chased down a solo Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) in the closing meters of the brutal finishing climb to San Luca (2.1km at 9.6%, with gradients up to 20% in places).
Giro del’Emilia is a fitting warm up for the climbers with multiple ascents over the Santa Christina.
Pidcock held on for second with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) taking the sprint for third head of Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Roglič (Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe), Ben Tulett (Team Visma / Lease a Bike), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Team Visma / Lease a Bike, but breaking a second long-term contract to move to Movistar for 2026). Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates XRG) won the Coppa Agostoni (166km with 3,000 meters of climbing) on Sunday, soloing to the win with 17km to go after his breakaway companion, Carlos Canal (Movistar), flatted but held on to second place ahead of Simone Velasco (XDS Astana), who won the sprint for third. Pogačar ominously won the Tre Valli Varesine (200km with 3,300 meters of climbing), held on Tuesday, October 7, going solo with 22km to go and building up a lead of about a minute over a 30-man chase group. Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) won the sprint for second ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling).
The Contenders
Tadej Pogačar. The Giro di Lombardia always seems to come down to a combination of form and motivation, and no one seems more in form or more motivated than Pogačar. His wins at the World Championships and European Championships were so dominant, launching his solo attacks at 66 km and 76 km to go, respectively, that they amazed despite becoming almost expected.
The 2025 Giro di Lombardia course falls in between those two in terms of distance and elevation, and, barring misfortune, Pogačar seems almost unbeatable on such a long and hilly course. Pogačar will also have his UAE Team Emirates XRG trade team at his disposal, which he typically employs to set a nearly impossible pace in the lead up to his solo attacks. Pogačar’s win at the Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday shows that he’s hungry (although reportedly, Pogačar only raced Tre Valli Varesine to fulfill a promise to the race organizers after last year’s race was canceled due to heavy rains) even after what seems like an interminable season with innumerable wins, beginning at the UAE Tour in February.
In watching Pogačar, it seems like he’s racing as much against the legends of the sport as he is against his competitors; a fifth consecutive il Lombardia win will put Pogačar ahead of five-time winner Fausto Coppi (given that Coppi won four consecutive il Lombardia titles from 1946 – 1949, and then his fifth in 1954) and will match Eddy Merckx’s magical 1971 season, when Merckx won three monuments, the Tour de France, and the World Championship in one season. With every win, Pogačar cements his position as one of the greatest racers cycling has ever seen.
Remco Evenepoel. Evenepoel finished second to Pogačar at the World Championships and European Championships, both held on demanding circuits, and also finished second behind Pogačar at the 2024 Giro di Lombardia and looked like a frontrunner in the 2023 edition until a crash took him out of the running. In each of these races (and in many races where the two champions square off), Evenepoel was unable to follow Pogačar’s initial attack, settled into a small chase group, and then attacked solo to attempt to bridge to Pogačar. In so doing, Evenepoel has shown he’s somewhere in between the level of Pogačar and the other chasers, and at times has been able to hold Pogačar at a consistent gap and not lose massive time in the final. If (and it’s a big if) Evenepoel can manage to withstand Pogačar’s initial onslaught he might be able to contest the win.
Tom Pidcock. With a direct challenge to Pogačar seeming unlikely, a potential duel between Evenepoel and Pidcock might prove to be the more competitive battle of the day. Pidcock seems to be fully motivated following his Vuelta a Espana podium, finishing a strong second behind del Toro at the Giro dell’Emilia. Pidcock’s late attack on the steep ramps of the San Luca climb looked to have cracked the chase, and only a determined and somewhat desperate chase by del Toro robbed Pidcock of the win. However, Pidcock finished a distant 10th at the World Championships and while he animated the race early on, he finished 40th at the Tre Valli Varesine, over two minutes down on Pogačar.
Primoz Roglič. Roglič has been consistent but not sparkling over the last few weeks, finishing 11th at the World Championships, 5th at the Giro dell’Emilia, and 13th at the Tre Valli Varesine. He is unnervingly consistent, and likely to finish in the lead group but seemingly unlikely to challenge Pogačar for the win.
Paul Seixas. Just barely 19 years old, Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has had impressive run of recent form, finishing 13th at the World Championships and 3rd at the European Championships behind Pogačar and Evenepoel. Seixas hasn’t raced any of the Italian semi-classics leading up to Lombardia, but he seems increasingly confident and his attack to distance Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) on the last climb at the European Championships was sufficiently impressive to earn him a spot on the list of favorites for Lombardia.
Paul Seixas clinging to the wheel – a glimpse of the future?
Other riders who look likely to be in the mix at Lombardia:
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG, moving to Lidl-Trek for 2026), who got 8th at the World Championships and 6th at the European Championships and who must want to prove that he’s closer to Pogačar and Evenepoel than he has been of late;
- Egan Bernal, who has been on the bubble lately and deserves a good result;
- Isaac del Toro, whose form and recent results would put him on the short list of favorites, but he’ll likely be setting up Pogačar for his winning attack;
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who DNF’ed the World Championships but showed some promise at the Giro dell’Emilia, where he finished 11th;
Tom Skujins (5th at the World Championships and the European Championships and 6th at Tre Valli Varesine); - Giulio Ciccone (6th at the World Championships); and
- Julian Alaphilippe (who seems to have bounced back from his illness that caused him to DNF the World Championships to get 3rd at Tre Valli Varesine).
With Pogačar up the road and racing against the legendary performances of the past, his current-day competitors will be vying for best of the rest. Evenepoel is currently in that second position, but there are racers who seem motivated to challenge him for that spot and maybe even position themselves as Pogačar’s main rival in 2026.
PEZ Video Extras
- Watch Pez’s Pre-Lombardia chat with Chris Horner from 2024 –
2. Watch the Top Ride around Lake Como from Bellagio, over the Madonna del Ghisallo, and descending the Civiglio.
The post Lombardia ’25 Preview: Pogačar Chases History, the Rest Chase Him appeared first on PezCycling News.
