Bahrain-Merida’s Nibali wins Il Lombardia

Bergamo, Lombardy : Bahrain-Merida’s Vincenzo Nibali soloed his way to victory in Como to claim the title in Il Lombardia on Sunday. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) was in second place, 28 seconds down, with Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) out-sprinting the chasers for third 10 seconds later.

It was the second victory for Bahrain’s Nibali in his home Monument after a similarly-executed win on the same run-in to Como in 2015.

“I got big support from my team I had great physical condition from the end of the season, but everyone was looking to me as the favourite so it wasn’t easy to win,” Nibali said.

“Today my plan was just to have a great race. I’ve had a lot of good placings this year but without the big win that I was looking for and to win a Monument it is always something great.”

Nibali moved into a lead group with 18km to go on the Civiglio, the penultimate climb of the day. He then bridged across to attacker Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) making a formidable two-man escape that quickly distanced the others.

The Frenchman has largely overcome his descending fears over the past few seasons, but was no match for Nibali on the technical, narrow descent of the Civiglio.

Although Pinot managed to keep Nibali to a handful of seconds at the foot of the final climb of the San Fermo della Battaglia, he lost ground on the climb and the subsequent descent.