Giro di Lombardia / Tour of Lombardy
the "Race of the Falling Leaves"

It is the light. It is the mountains. It is the lakes. It is Mother Nature at her spectacular best. Lombardy is where cycling bids adieu to the summer racing season. It would be hard to imagine a more beautiful setting to showcase the beauty of cycling than at the Giro di Lombardia. Known as “the race of the falling leaves” , the race course takes in a huge loop around the Lake Como area of the Italian/Swiss lakes region. Today this area is a major tourist favorite with numerous small and very picturesque towns clinging to the sides of mountains spilling into pristine lakes.

When the race first started in 1905 it was known as the Milan-Milan and back then the course was mainly over unmade roads criss-crossing the Lombardy plain. As road conditions improved major route changes were made to seek out more challenging terrain. It was not long before the riders found themselves circling Lake Como . It was during the 1920's that the famous Madonna del Ghisallo climb was introduced. Back then it was a dirt track leading up to it's 2000ft (610m) summit. Many of the roads around the lake were also of dirt and the many mountain spurs dropping into the lake represented an endless string of climbs. Today the road is well paved and most of the spurs have been tunnelled through and thus eliminating most of those early climbs. However the race fully deserves it's elevated ‘monument' status and it's five long climbs will always rip the legs off of riders feeling the effects of a long summer campaign.

In the same way that the Belgians covet Flanders and the L-B-L, the Italians jealously fight to the bitter end to lay claim to a Lombardy win. The statistics show that historically they have completely dominated the race podium. Even in these days of the international peloton they have won the last seven editions.

“Il Campionissimo”, Fausto Coppi, has the most wins with five and his exploits here are the stuff of legend. He immortalised himself and the race on the dusty dirt slopes of the Madonna del Ghisallo where today the famous ‘cyclists' chapel at the summit has his bikes, jerseys and other memorabilia on permanent display. The race roll of honor resonates with the names of cycling's greats having multiple wins; Afredo Binda (4), Henri Pellisier (3), Costante Girardengo (3), Gaetano Belloni (3), Gino Bartali (3) and Sean Kelly (3). Kelly's third win came towards the end of his career in 1991 when he pulled out one of his truly great rides in the face of almost desperate Italian partisanship working in favor of Franco Ballerini.

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