Tadej Pogačar keeps adding monument wins to his palmares, winning his third Il Lombardia in a row. After not being able to distance everyone on Passo di Ganda, Pogačar attacked on the descent and soloed to his fifth monument victory.

UAE’s Slovenian superstar was the main favourite to win Lombardia after being victorious in 2021 and 2022, beating Fausto Masnada and Enric Mas in a sprint. Pogačar prepared for Lombardia with four Italian classics, running 2nd in Giro dell’Emilia, 3rd in Coppa Sabatini, 4th in Giro della Toscana and 5th in Tre Valli Varesine. Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, who both started in La Vuelta, were the other two big contenders. Unfortunately for the Belgian champion he crashed early in the race with more than 200 km to go. Evenepoel continued but the hard crash definitely affected his race performance.

238 kilometres with 4,646 metres of climbing makes Lombardia one of the hardest one-day races of the year. The main climb this year was Passo di Ganda, where in 2021 Pogačar attacked and later was caught on the descent by Fausto Masnada. Passo di Ganda is a relatively easy climb as the average gradient of the first six kilometres are little bit above 6%, where drafting is extremely important, while the last two kilometres, where the action usually happens, average almost 9%.

Before Passo di Ganda there was a big crash in the peloton with Richard Carapaz, Esteban Chaves, Mikel Landa, Matteo Jorgenson and other strong riders going down. Before the climb Nick Schultz sitting in the peloton spent 4,483 kilojoules for 4:53h. The intensity was not that high for a monument one day race, averaging 13.50 kj/kg/h, but the legs were surely still fatigued after climbing for almost 5 hours.

Pogačar’s teammate Adam Yates attacked early on Ganda, making the pace harder and forcing Jumbo-Visma to spend their energy with Atilla Valter in pursuit. Evenepoel did not look good and was distanced quickly like in the 2021 edition.

Pogačar and Roglič both were looking at each other, while Michael Woods, Chris Harper, Adam Yates, Richard Carapaz, Aleksandr Vlasov, Simon Yates and Andrea Bagioli made the split and got a gap on the big contenders. Pogačar later bridged to the first group and dropped Roglič who was struggling. Despite Pogačar attacking, and being joined by a very strong Aleksandr Vlasov, Roglič was able to claw back the lead duo with Simon Yates and Carlos Rodriguez close to this wheel. At the crest of Passo di Ganda the best climbers were together before Pogačar attacked on the descent.

Pogačar, Vlasov, Roglič, S. Yates and Bagioli climbed Passo di Ganda in 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new climbing record. In 2021 Pogačar did Passo di Ganda in 23:14 min, while the second group did it in 23:44 min. Compared to other 2023 races, the ᵉW/Kg were not high. 6.33 – 6.34 ᵉW/Kg for the riders in the first group is not anything special for 2023 standards, but it comes at the end of nearly 9 months of full gas racing for many of these riders.

Pogačar demonstrated his improved descending skills off Passo di Ganda compared to 2021, opening a significant gap over his chasers. On the flat before Colle Aperto the UAE superstar benefited from group 2 syndrome, with his rivals unable to work well together. Despite cramps in the legs he won his third Il Lombardia in a row in convincing fashion. Bagioli won the bunch sprint behind getting his biggest result in World Tour races, while Roglič in his final race in Jumbo-Visma finished 3rd, beating his future teammate Vlasov.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

Remco Evenepoel dominated the breakaway of La Vuelta Stage 18, achieving his 50th pro victory at age 23, while Jumbo-Visma worked for their leader Sepp Kuss, who survived the high pace on the final climb made by Bahrain-Victorious, keeping his leader’s jersey.

After a Jumbo-Visma civil war on Angliru, it was a relatively calm day on Stage 18, with the breakaway going early and obtaining a huge gap over the peloton as Jumbo-Visma was happy to give away the bonus seconds and stage win. With two Cruz de Linares (8.2 km, 8.6%) ascents at the end of the course, it was going to be a day for climbers.

Remco Evenepoel was the big favourite from the breakaway with Max Poole, Damiano Caruso, Egan Bernal, Andreas Kron, Julien Bernard and others trying to challenge the Belgian champion. Despite being alone in the group with no teammates it was a perfect day for Evenepoel as the first half of the Linares ascent was over 10% gradient, which was suited for a high w/kg climber. Evenepoel had strong legs, did a lot of pacing in the middle of the stage and rode away from everyone on the first of the two Linares ascents, dropping Poole as the last rider.

Evenepoel did 6.53 ᵉW/Kg for 24:40 min on the first ascent and 6.17 ᵉW/Kg for 25:55 on the second time up Linares when he already had the stage win secured. No one came close to challenging him, as Evenepoel beat second-place finisher Damiano Caruso by 4 minutes and 44 seconds, for his 50th pro victory and 3rd stage victory in the 2023 Vuelta. There is still a single mountain day left on Stage 20 but it does not have the hard climbs of Stage 18.

In the peloton, it was a calm day compared to Angliru. Bahrain-Victorious again were pacing as they still had a strong climbing team even with Caruso in the breakaway. The peloton did the first Linares ascent in 25:05 min with 6.22 ᵉW/Kg. A decent pace but not too hard, slower than a practically solo Remco Evenepoel.

It was a long stage with a higher kilojoule count than the Angliru and Tourmalet explosive stages. Steff Cras spent before the final climb 4,024 kilojoules for 4:32h, which is 13.22 kj/kg/h. Not a high intensity but it was more of a difficult endurance test than most of La Vuelta's climbing stages.

After Poels and Tiberi had done their job, Landa tried to attack and move to the fourth place in the GC ahead of Juan Ayuso but it was not enough. Vingegaard acted as a domestique and brought back Landa and paced the rest of the climb with Kuss and Roglič in his wheel. Landa and Ayuso tried later to attack again as the pace was not super high but were brought back.

In the end, it was not a straightforward day for many of the other GC contenders, with Cian Ujitdebroeks, Aleksandr Vlasov and Joao Almeida losing almost a minute to the main GC group. Kuss, Mas, Ayuso and Roglič finished together, with Landa and Vingegaard losing three and nine seconds respectively in the final metres.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

Despite Jumbo-Visma being calm, it was a very hard final ascent of La Cruz de Linares. Jonas Vingegaard did the final climb in 24:09 min, pushing 6.60 ᵉW/Kg. Kuss, Roglič, Mas and Ayuso did 6.54 ᵉW/Kg. Kuss proved that he is not fading at all, surviving such a hard climb, and going one step closer to his first Grand Tour victory.

Jumbo-Visma again dominated on a mountain stage with an entertaining performance from Primož Roglič who attacked his teammate and race leader Sepp Kuss, with Jonas Vingegaard following the Slovenian, despite all three at that point leading the race without any other rival teams.

Altu de L’Angliru (12.20 km, 10.49%) is one of the steepest climbs in pro cycling with gradients going way over 10% in the second half of the climb. Jumbo-Visma began the day leading the Vuelta overall classification with three riders, Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič. All of them are the strongest climbers in the race which is a unique situation in the modern era of Grand Tours.

As expected it was going to be a GC day as the breakaway did not get enough gap from Jumbo’s rouleurs to stand a chance against the mighty Bahrain-Victorious train with Tiberi, Caruso, Buitrago, Poels and Landa who was fighting for the 4th spot in the GC against Ayuso and Soler. Remco Evenepoel was the last survivor of the breakaway but a minute gap before Angliru was not enough. The high pace in the GC group was one of the reasons why the gap was small as Marc Soler launched early with 52 km to go, ignoring his 6th place in the overall classification and later losing many minutes on the steep climb.

It was not a high fatigue day as Steff Cras spent 2,545 kilojoules for 2:36h before the climb, at a reasonable intensity of 14.67 kj/kg/h. A low kilojoule day from Jumbo-Visma riders tends to benefit Roglič compared to Kuss and Vingegaard, who both excel on extremely difficult days.

Bahrain-Victorious had an insanely strong team, setting a high and steady pace on Angliru. Wout Poels in the 2017 La Vuelta finished together with his then teammate Chris Froome on the hard climb, setting the fastest time that day, and finished second behind Juan Jose Cobo in 2011. Poels again was lethal on the steep ramps with Landa and the Jumbo-Visma big three were the only survivors.

After Poels finished his job and Landa started to set a lower pace, Kuss, Roglič and Vingegaard were the only ones in the front. Despite Sepp Kuss having helped Roglič in many Grand Tours and being the race leader, the Slovenian gifted the American on his 29th birthday more pain and accelerated in the final kilometres. Vingegaard was not helping Roglič and was sitting on his wheel, while Kuss was fighting for the red jersey against his teammates.

Roglič won his 12th Vuelta stage and finished with Vingegaard who probably could have gone faster, while Kuss with a little help from Landa lost 19 seconds on the stage not counting bonus seconds and kept his leader’s jersey but Vingegaard (+0:08) and Roglič (+1:08) cut the gap. Ayuso lost +1:42 on Angliru to Roglič and is almost three minutes behind the Slovenian in the GC as the best non-Jumbo-Visma rider.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

The legendary Robert Heras record of 41 minutes was not broken but it was close. Roglič and Vingegaard climbed Angliru in 41:24 min, pushing 6.43 ᵉW/Kg. Many riders broke their 40+ minute power records in this race as the climb was steep, well paced by Bahrain-Victorious early, relatively low kilojoules before the base and at low altitude. Vingegaard if he went full gas and attacked Roglič probably could have broken Heras’ record. The level of climbing is extremely high as Roglič, Vingegaard, Landa, Kuss and Poels beat Chris Horner’s incredible time (42:15 min) set in the 2013 La Vuelta which until this day was the second fastest ascent on Angliru. Roglič and Vingegaard were 29 seconds faster than Heras on the steep section of the climb, which means that most of the time was lost against the legendary Spaniard during the first six kilometres which were not that steep and had the pace set by Bahrain. Roglič and Vingegaard on the steep part did 6.75 ᵉW/Kg for 26:28 min.

Kuss is the shape of his life and has performed exceptionally on mountain stages in this Vuelta, protecting his leader's jersey from his teammates Roglič and Vingegaard. There are two more mountain days left on stages 18 and 20. Tomorrow it will be a hard mountain top finish on La Cruz de Linares (8.3 km, 8.5%), where Roglič likely might try again to attack with Vingegaard following his wheel and Kuss trying his best not to lose the lead.

Jonas Vingegaard is continuing to impress in the 2023 season. The Dane attacked early on the final climb in La Vuelta Stage 16 and beat his GC rivals on the short Bejes climb by more than a minute thanks in part to a disorganised chase behind him and his high pace.

It was a typical Vuelta stage, just 120-kilometres after the final rest day with an irregular low-altitude climb in the finale. Bejes at 4.9 kilometres at 8.5% gradient offered a chance for early attacks from the GC group as it included extended 10%+ gradient sections at the start and finish.

Jumbo-Visma before the climb had everything under control. The breakaway was caught and Attila Valter paced the first part of Bejes as hard as he could with Vingegaard, Kuss and Roglič behind him. It was clear that Roglič or Vingegaard from Jumbo-Visma would attack as the Hungarian champion was the last remaining mountain domestique with still 10 minutes remaining on the climb.

Like on Tourmalet, it was the Tour de France champion Vingegaard who attacked very early before the first steep section ended. It was similar to O Gran Camiño where Valter was the last man before the Dane launched on the steep and short climbs, with no one challenging him. Vingegaard immediately opened a huge gap and in the GC group, there was not a single team that began to chase with commitment. UAE-Emirates rider Finn Fisher Black even dropped everyone from the GC group after Mas let his wheel go, but stayed in no man’s land for the whole climb as he did not have the watts to close the gap to Vingegaard.

UAE was not united for Ayuso, with Almeida refusing to pull and then electing to attack whilst Soler was probably trying his best to not drop as both of them were fighting for a high position in the overall classification. The chase continued to be disorganised and the GC group was so slow that even Valter returned to the group, while Vingegaard was gaining a lot of time on the short climb. Some non-GC threats like Bauke Mollema, Michael Storer, Wout Poels et al even attacked the group to fight for minor places on the stage.

Clearly, Primož Roglič was not happy with the situation and attacked the GC favourites with Mas and Ayuso chasing the Slovenian down, with the red jersey Kuss suffering in the wheels.

In the end, Vingegaard won the stage, beating Fisher-Black by 43 seconds on a 13-minute climb, while Jumbo-Visma’s biggest rivals Ayuso and Mas lost 61 seconds to the Dane not gaining a single bonus second. Kuss lost four seconds to the Ayuso, Mas, Vlasov and Roglič group but remained as the GC leader. Before the mighty Angliru stage, Vingegaard is only 29 seconds behind the American, while Ayuso is more than two minutes behind the Dane.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com

All the climbing conditions were perfect – low altitude climb, easy stage after a rest day and low 18 degrees temperature for Spain in early September. Jonas Vingegaard climbed Puerto de Bejes in 13:11 min pushing an estimated 7.40 ᵉW/Kg – one of the greatest unipuerto climbing performances in cycling history. Finn Fisher-Black who chased Vingegaard alone and finished 43 seconds behind pushed 6.96 ᵉW/Kg. The GC group with Roglič, Ayuso, Mas and Vlasov did only 6.65 ᵉW/Kg but could have gone much faster had there been a proper chase.

The climb was irregular and had flatter sections, which makes calculation more difficult than on other climbs, but Vingegaard has already done such performances multiple times in 2023 and on Bejes the conditions were absolutely perfect for high W/Kg.

Vingegaard is having perhaps the greatest climbing season of all time outside of Marco Pantani. Unlike in previous years, in 2023 Vingegaard has been lethal on shorter, punchy Spanish climbs, winning convincingly in O Gran Camiño on Monte Trega and Alto do Castelo as well as destroying the field in the Basque Country on Alto de Arrate - Izua. Tomorrow the rider's face a different prospect, the fearsome Angliru, with 6km at over 13% gradient. It will be interesting to see whether Vingegaard will be unleashed, if Kuss can keep the red jersey or whether Ayuso or Mas can make known their bid for the GC podium.