Il Lombardia predictions and cycling betting tips: Evenepoel value to dethrone Lombardy king Pogacar

Where to watch Il Lombardia

Live on Discovery+ from 9.25am on Saturday. Race starts at 9.40am.

Best bet

Remco Evenepoel to win Il Lombardia
2pts each-way 16-1 general

Il Lombardia predictions

Tadej Pogacar goes in search of a fourth straight Il Lombardia title to round off an incredible 2024 including wins at the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and in the road race at the World Championships.

The Slovenian is as short as 1-5 to win the fifth monument, and final big race of the year, before the star names in the peloton pedal away into the off-season.

Held in Italy and possessing a typically poetic nickname for an Italian sporting institution, the 118th 'Race of the Falling Leaves' features a 252km route from Bergamo to Como. 

Il Lombardia is always as photogenic as its moniker suggests but the undulating parcours makes for brutal racing.

Class usually tells but the short odds about Pogacar's chances leave the possibility to pick up value elsewhere and although third in the betting at the time of writing, with Tom Pidcock second, Remco Evenepoel's price is one worth backing, even if it's done each-way.

The Belgian won the time-trial and road race at this summer's Paris Olympics, as well as the TT at the Worlds, and will want to respond after abandoning due to debris in his eye as Pogacar soloed to victory in last Saturday's Giro dell'Emilia. 

Evenepoel was ninth in this race last year, the punchy climbs suit him, and he may feel Il Lombardia owes him after crashing here in 2020.

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