Tour of Lombardy 2017: Nibali solos to second victory in Il Lombardia

At 247 kilometres, the 2017 Tour of Lombardy travels from Bergamo to Como on the same route as in 2015. The winner is also the same: Vincenzo Nibali attacks on descent of the penultimate climb, the Civiglio, just like he did two years ago. The Shark of Messina solos to victory ahead of Julian Alaphilippe. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2017 Tour of Lombardy

1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Julian Alaphilippe (fra) + 0.28
3. Gianni Moscon (ita) + 0.38
4. Alexiz Vuilermoz (fra)
5. Thibaut Pinot (fra) s.t.
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (ita) s.t.
7. Fabio Aru (ita) s.t.
8. Mikel Nieve (spa) + 0.40
9. Nairo Quintana (col) + 0.42
10. Sergei Chernetski (rus) + 0.47

Race report
Davide Ballerini and Jacques Janse van Rensburg attack off the front right after the start, but they struggle to force a proper gap. It’s only when Mathias Le Turnier, Lorenzo Roti, Pierpaolo De Negri and Lennard Hofstede rejoin them half an hour into the race that they manage to shake off the peloton. With six they race to a maximum lead of 12 minutes.

Jesús Herrada attacks on Madonna del Ghisallo and Laurens De Plus, Jan Polanc, Andrey Grivko, Rodolfo Torres, Primoz Roglic, Mikael Chérel and Damiano Caruso bridge across. The gap crashes to less than 1 minute, and only Le Turnier is left at the front when the stronest chasers, De Plus and Chérel, gobble him up. At the foot of the climb to Sormano a group with Roglic, Anacona, Conti and Polanc is half a minute behind, while the peloton is 1 minute more down on the leaders.

Chérel heads out on his own and he crests the Muro di Sormano 25 seconds ahead of the first chaser, De Plus. The peloton is close behind.

De Plus crashes hard on descent and goes over the guardrails (it looks horrible, but he is not badly inured). Down on Lake Como Chérel races almost 1 minute ahead of the main group, where Philippe Gilbert and Alessandro De Marchi go on the attack. Pello Bilbao rejoin them with 30 kms remaining. With three they chase down the lone leader.

At the foot of the Civiglio the quartet is half a minute ahead of the main group, but they are reeled in on the steep slopes. Then Gianni Moscon leaves with Sam Oomen on his wheel, while a group with Vincenzo Nibali, Rigoberto Uran, Nairo Quintana and Thibaut Pinot rejoin them before the Frenchman heads out on his own. Nibali closes the gap just before the top and Uran goes after them on descent.

Back down in Como Nibali leads the race with 10 seconds. Uran is brought back, more than 40 seconds down on the Shark of Messina.

On the San Fermo della Battaglia Nibali widens the gap. On the top he is 40 seconds ahead of Pinot, who is caught and left alone by Julian Alaphilippe. A moment later the other chasers mop up Pinot, too.

The Shark of Messina solos to vuictory, 28 seconds ahead of Alaphilippe, while Gianni Moscon outsprints the chasers for third.