Lombardia

I'm tipping Cunego for the treble.

Gilbert looks great, I agree, and has Evans to use as a decoy runner. (What is with Lotto being strong all of a sudden, and Evans working well with team-mates, etc?)

But he will have to have held his form a long time.

Samu and Cunego both have decent sprints, so I think they must figure with Gilbert as favourites. I lean to Cunego since I reckon he's been working towards this one specially, whereas the others might have had World's as their dominant goal with this as an afterthought.

Others: Kolobnev maybe? He's good at this kind of race.

nice read on steephill! brajkovic looks malnourished in that shot, must be on form!

Yakko said:

nice read on steephill! brajkovic looks malnourished in that shot, must be on form!

He doesn't look to bad 😕

Really good race this year.

Excellent win by Gilbert : held of Sanchez in the final sprint.

Rather disconcerting seeing Vino blasting away on the final climb.
He did a huge turn on the front trying to break the field.
The layoff hasn't dented his fighting spirit.

Good race : I backed Cunego towin his 4th Lombardia

limerickman said:

Really good race this year.

Excellent win by Gilbert : held of Sanchez in the final sprint.

Rather disconcerting seeing Vino blasting away on the final climb.
He did a huge turn on the front trying to break the field.
The layoff hasn't dented his fighting spirit.

Good race : I backed Cunego towin his 4th Lombardia

Evans did a power of work to bring Vino back.

I saw some complaints about Gilbert's sprint (not from Sanchez), but he was the strongest. If he can win that, he's surely a factor in some of the other hilly classics.

A tremendous run.

only saw the last couple of minutes live, but i think gilbert's sprint was a little awkward because he started to celebrate and then had to restart - any slight change of his line was incidental in the result, he wasn't going to get beaten...

here's a good report if you missed the race - has a blog entry from testteam's deignan as well:
Gilbert unstoppable in Lombardy | VeloNation Cycling News and Reference

History

The first edition was 1905. It was then called Milan-Milan. It gained its current name in 1907. The route has changed many times. Milan, Sesto San Giovanni, Bergamo, Varese, Monza, Cuneo have been start or finish place. In 2004 the race started in Mendrisio in Switzerland, and ended in Como. The most famous obstacle is the Madonna del Ghisallo climb that appears in the latter part of the race. A shrine there has a small museum containing religious and cycling objects.
Fausto Coppi won a record five times. Frenchman Henri Pelissier and Irishman Sean Kelly are the only non-Italian riders to win the race three times. The 2009 race was won by Philippe Gilbert.