page_title: 2015 Il Lombardia
section_title: Pre-race favourites
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Il Lombardia / Pre-race favourites
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reportage réalisé le dimanche 26 avril à l'occasion de l'arrivée de Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2015 à Ans, Belgique. Nederlands: Aankomst, zondag 26 april 2015, Luik-Bastenaken-Luik 2015, Ans, België.
context_page_description: The 2015 Il Lombardia was a one-day cycling classic that took place around Lake Como in Lombardy in northern Italy on 4 October 2015. It was the 109th edition of the Il Lombardia one-day cycling race and was the final cycling monument of the 2015 season, as well as being the final race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race was organised by RCS Sport, who also organise the Giro d'Italia.
  The course was difficult, taking in several hard climbs over the 245-kilometre route, including the famous Madonna del Ghisallo climb. It started in Bergamo and reached the coast of Lake Como about halfway through the race. The final 75 kilometres contained most of the climbing, with the final climb coming in the last 10 kilometres. This was followed by a descent to the finish line in Como itself.
  There was aggressive racing from the climb of the Madonna del Ghisallo and the very difficult Muro di Sormano that followed it. A small group came to the final climbs together. Vincenzo Nibali, who had targeted the race following his expulsion from the Vuelta a España, attacked on the penultimate descent.
context_section_description: The defending champion in the race was Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin), who won the 2014 edition with a late attack. He had crashed during the Vuelta a España, however, and had been forced to retire from the race due to injury. After recovering from the injury, he had raced just once since the crash: he finished in 14th place in Milano–Torino. His form before the race was therefore unclear, especially as Il Lombardia is both longer and more difficult than Milano–Torino. Il Lombardia was the final race of Martin's season and also his final race for the Cannondale-Garmin team.
  With Martin's form uncertain, the favourite for the race was Alejandro Valverde. As well as performing strongly in the early-season hilly classics in the 2015 season, he had been close to success in Il Lombardia in the past: he finished second in both 2013 and 2014. Max Sciandri, a directeur sportif for the BMC Racing Team, said that the increased difficulty of the 2015 edition suited Valverde: "now it suits the climbers and good descenders rather the Classics riders ... [Valverde] can climb, can descend and is even fast in a sprint finish." Cycling Weekly suggested that Valverde's ability to recover from the Vuelta in time for Il Lombardia would work in his favour. Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) would also have been a strong favourite for the race: he won the 2012 and 2013 editions and had come second in the Vuelta. However, he injured his knee when he hit a sign post while training and was forced to withdraw from the race.
  Vincenzo Nibali was also cited as a potential winner of the race, following a difficult season. He had struggled during the Tour de France and was subsequently thrown out of the Vuelta for holding on to a team car. He had therefore made Il Lombardia a significant target. Nibali had performed strongly in the other late-season Italian classics, while his team had shown its strength in supporting Diego Rosa to victory in Milano–Torino. Fabio Aru, who had won the Vuelta, was not present: he was riding the Tour of Almaty instead.
  With Rodríguez absent, two other former champions started the race: these were Philippe Gilbert (BMC), the winner in 2009 and 2010, and Damiano Cunego (Nippo–Vini Fantini), who won in 2007 and 2008. Gilbert in particular was considered a potential winner of the race. Other favourites for the race victory included Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Rui Costa and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Simon Gerrans (Orica–GreenEDGE), Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo), Robert Gesink (LottoNL–Jumbo), Warren Barguil (Team Giant–Alpecin), Domenico Pozzovivo and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Michał Kwiatkowski (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Tim Wellens (Lotto–Soudal).
caption: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), photographed celebrating his victory in the 2015 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, was the favourite for victory in Il Lombardia.
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