In a season already heavy with history, Tadej Pogačar added one more line that no rider had ever written. On 11 October 2025, the Slovenian attacked alone on the Passo di Ganda and rode the final 36 kilometres solo to win Il Lombardia for a fifth straight year — the first time any rider has won a Monument five times in a row.
A searing move, then silence behind
The 119th edition rolled out of Como under clear autumn skies. The 241-kilometre course wound through narrow roads to Bergamo, with Quinn Simmons ahead early. UAE Team Emirates-XRG pulled the front group apart on the lower slopes of the Passo di Ganda, a 10-kilometre climb hitting 15 per cent at its steepest.
Jay Vine and Isaac Del Toro set a fierce pace. Halfway up, Pogačar jumped. He caught and passed Simmons with three kilometres to the summit, then pressed on alone.
Coppi equalled, but the streak stands alone
Behind him the chasers broke apart. Remco Evenepoel took second at 1 minute 48 seconds. Michael Storer was third, more than three minutes back.
The win matched Fausto Coppi’s five Il Lombardia titles. Yet Pogačar’s run — five in one unbroken streak — is his alone. It was his 10th career Monument victory and capped the first season in which any rider has podiumed all five.
“To win five times in a row — every time I start it feels like this course, this race is really suited to me,” he told reporters. Autumn leaves had just begun to fall on the road to Bergamo. Pogačar was already looking ahead.
