An early-autumn day’s dream: Team Polti Kometa’s lineup for Il Lombardia
It’s not the end of the season, but it’s the climax of the closing part. It’s the last Monument, the last World Tour event in Team Polti Kometa’s annual calendar. Here, dreams of glory — or rather, dreams of an early autumn day (to paraphrase Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream) are reflected in a romantic melancholy, mixing with the strain of a 4,800m. elevation gain in the home region of the squad managed by Ivan Basso and the Contador brothers. Ladies and gentlemen, Il Lombardia.
In the perfect alternation of start and finish cities in recent years, the 118th edition will kick off tomorrow morning from Bergamo and will reach the center of Como (no longer along the lakeside, due to the risk of flooding) after 255 kilometers. A lake scene will already greet riders early on, with the small Endine from which the first of the 8 ascents begins: the Forcellino di Bianzano, 6 km at 5%. Following that will be the Selvino (10 km at 6%), the Colle di Berbenno (5 km at 6%), the Valpiana (10 km at 6%), the Sella di Osigo (5 km at 6%), the Madonna del Ghisallo (6 km at 4%) from the easier side, while the tougher challenge will be the Colma di Sormano (13 km at 6%) not to be confused with the famous Muro. At that point 42 kilometers will remain, mostly downhill where extreme caution will be needed. Finally, between -8 and -5 km, the punchy San Fermo uphill will launch toward the grand finale.
Half the climbs lie in the Orobic province, the other half in the Como one. In between, the plain of the Lecco branch of Lake Como stretches out. Here, more than Shakespeare, we might invoke the very Italian Manzoni… Coming to the epic prose of cycling, such a challenge requires a great battery of climbers: Polti Kometa will showcase the talent of Davide Piganzoli, originally from a slightly northern area like Valtellina and fresh off a podium at last week’s Giro dell’Emilia. Riding his colorful AURUM Magma painted by Lechler, he’ll be supported by teammates who warmed up their engines yesterday at the Gran Piemonte, like Matteo Fabbro and Mattia Bais, alongside other ideal altitude domestiques such as Germán Gómez, Andrea Garosio, Fernando Tercero (4th at the Tour de Langkawi) and Davide De Cassan, who after the Giro dell’Emilia + Trittico Lombardo tour de force skipped Gran Piemonte to recon Il Lombardia’s final stretch.
De Cassan: “This is it, as a neo-professional I’m about to experience my first Monument! It’s one of those races that kept me glued to the TV as a kid, now I’m among the participants and I can’t wait to give my best to the team’s goals.”
Sports Director Stefano Zanatta: “The Classic of the Falling Leaves is always very demanding and we’ll face it with pride and ambition. Surely getting into the breakaway is an option to consider, but we trust we’ll be also present in the decisive phases with Piganzoli. Hopefully the weather will be kind, we want to express our style of racing to the fullest, enriching this 2024 finale with more successes.”
