A great triumph for Joaquim Rodriguez in the last Monument classic race “Giro di Lombardia”: the leader of Katusha Team did a great attack with ten kilometers to go in the last uphill in Villa Vergano (3 kilometers long, 7,4% average, 15% max), which nobody could answer to. The first chasing group tried to close the gap in the following descent, but with no luck: ‘Purito’ did his best in that sector of the route too and in the end took a fantastic solo win, 9” ahead of Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), in second position, and Rigoberto Uran (Sky), at the lowest rung of the podium. Katusha Team managed to control the race in all its crucial moments, from the very demanding uphill of Muro di Sormano, 80 kilometers far from the finishing line, 2 kilometers with a 27% highest pendence: Alberto Losada leaded the main group and imposed his pace during almost all the route; when he gave up, Dani Moreno successfully took his place; and Alexander Kolobnev, in the end, took the attacks from the group ahead under control. Particularly, thanks to the Russian rider the blitz by Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil), followed by Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was neutralized: then, the incredible attack of Rodriguez, which found no rivals. Thanks to this victory, now ‘Purito’ managed to take the lead of UCI World Tour Individual Ranking. With just one World Tour race to go, “Tour of Beijing”, the Spanish rider has 692 points: Bradley Wiggins (Sky) is second with 601 points, while Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is third with 410.
“This is the most important triumph of my whole career – said Rodriguez – this for me was a perfect season: I won “Fleche-Wallonne”, I took the second position in “Giro d’Italia”, the third place in “Vuelta a Espana”. After that I did my best in order to get ready for World Championships and “Giro di Lombardia”: in the former my performance was so and so, but in the latter it was a triumph. Obviously I have to thank all Katusha Team for this victory: particularly, I want to thank again Igor Makarov and ITERA, which put in the best condition for doing such a great job during this season. Today I was feeling in great shape: in fact I made my teammates work during all the crucial moments of the race. When I saw that all my rivals were tired and I felt so great, I realized I had a great chance to win. Villa Vergano uphill suited me a lot: I managed to make the difference, to tell the truth I thought that somebody could join me in that attack, but instead nobody could answer and that makes this victory even greater. I think I was one of the favorite riders since the beginning: I was fighting for a double goal, to win this prestigious competition and to take the lead of UCI World Tour Ranking, and I managed to. So I’m really happy”.