The 114th edition of the Tour of Lombardy will be played on Saturday. Born in 1905, two years before Milan-Sanremo, the Lombard event is, among the five monuments of cycling sport, the one that has been canceled the least often. Only the 1943 and 1944 editions could not take place due to World War II. Paris-Roubaix, created nine years earlier, is the only monument that has been disputed more often than Lombardy. By way of comparison, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest of the classics which saw the light of day in 1892, has been contested 105 times. Here are the main figures of the Tour of Lombardy 2020.
1 The Tour of Lombardy will be the FIRST monument of cycling sport in which Remco Evenepoel. The Italian classic will also be its first one-day race of the 2020 season. The last one dates back to September 29, 2019, during the online world championships, held in England.
2 Only TWO Belgians have won the Tour of Lombardy in the last 40 years, i.e. since the end of the golden age Eddy Merckx–Roger De Vlaeminck : Alphons De Wolf and Philippe Gilbert.
3 Two riders won the THREE major Italian races (Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Lombardy and Giro) in the same year: Fausto Coppi in 1949 and Eddy Merckx in 1972.
4 Milan-Sanremo is spring and the Tour of Lombardy is autumn. This year, the two races are exceptionally contested in the middle of summer. The FOUR seasons are not what they used to be. Antonio Vivaldi would have lost his Latin.
5 Fausto Coppi is the record holder for victories in the event. He triumphed there FIVE times, achieving an unparalleled quadruple between 1946 and 1949. He was ahead of his compatriot Alfredo Binda, four times victorious including a treble between 1925 and 1927.
6 SIX runners won with the world champion’s jersey: Alfredo Binda in 1927, Tom Simpson in 1965, Felice Gimondi in 1973, Giuseppe Saronni in 1982, Oscar Camenzind and 1998 et Paolo Bettini in 2006. The current world champion, the Dane Mads Pedersen, will not be present on Saturday.
7 Absent in Como, Wout Van Aert will therefore not be the eighth rider to achieve “La Doppietta”, that is to say the double Milan-Sanremo and Tour of Lombardy in the same year. The SEVEN champions who achieved this feat are Constant Girardengo in 1921, Michele Mara in 1930, Alfredo Binda in 1931, Gino Bartali in 1939 and 1940, Fausto Coppi in 1946, 48 and 49, Louison bobet in 1951 and Eddy Merckx in 1971 and 1972.
8 EIGHT riders have won the Tour of Lombardy more than twice. Six Italians (Coppi, Binda, Bartali, Girardengo, Gaetano Belloni and Damiano Cunego) as well as French Henri pelissier and the Irish Sean Kelly.
9 NINE Belgians won the Lombard classic: Philippe Thys, Rik Van Looy, Emile Daems, Herman Van Springel, Jean-Pierre Monseré, Merckx, De Vlaeminck, De Wolf et Gilbert.
10 The last Belgian victory dates back to 2010. Philippe Gilbert won solo ahead of the late Michele Scarponi. It’s been TEN years.
11 Italian Franco Bitossi holds the record for “top 10” in the event: ELEVEN times.
12 Dutch Bauke Mollema is a candidate for the double, a feat that TWELVE riders have achieved so far, including the Belgians Merckx (1971 and 1972) and Gilbert (2009 and 2010). The last to do it is the Spaniard Joachim Rodriguez, in 2012 and 2013.
16 Davide Rebellin has never won the Tour of Lombardy but he holds the record for participation: SIXTEEN.
20 If successful, Remco Evenepoel will not be the youngest winner in the history of the Tour of Lombardy. The first winner, Giovanni Gerbi was TWENTY years and 175 days old when he triumphed in 1905. Evenepoel will be 28 days older than the Italian this Saturday. In this particular ranking, Gerbi is ahead of Jean-Pierre Monseré who was only 21 years and 33 days old when he succeeded in 1969.
35 A second van der Poel montera-t-il on the podium THIRTY-FIVE years after the first? To do better than his dad Adri, second behind Kelly in 1985, Mathieu will have to triumph on Saturday.
36 Gaetano Belloni is the oldest winner in the history of the Tour of Lombardy. He was THIRTY-SIX years and 68 days old when he was successful in 1928.
69 The number of Italian victories in the Lombard classic. Belgium and France follow with 12 successes.
231 The number of kilometers to travel between Como and Bergamo. This is the lowest mileage since 1960 (victory for Emile Daems).
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