Tour of Lombardy -Il Lombardia
(Giro di Lombardia)

Les Woodland's book Tour de France: The Inside Story - Making the World's Greatest Bicycle Race is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

The race:
"Race of the Falling Leaves" (la classica delle foglie morte). The route is on roads north of Milan that go around lakes Como and Lecco, the area Italians call the rosa camuna, the home to the neolithic inhabitants of Lombardy. It was originally called Milano-Milano and was changed to Giro di Lombardia in 1907. The race is organized and promoted by RCS Sport, the same group the puts on the Giro d'Italia and several other important Italian races. RCS Sport is owned by the same company that owns La Gazzetta dello Sport, the most important sports newspaper in Italy.

Fausto Coppi has the absolute record in the Giro di Lombardia, having won it 5 times.

Before the World Road Championships were moved from the end of summer to the fall, the Giro di Lombardia was sometimes called the "Autumn World Championships".

In 2012 the organizers changed the race's name to "Il Lombardia".

The route has changed over the years:

1905-1960: Milano to Milano

1961-1984: Milano to Como

1984-1989: Como to Milano (1985 Vigorelli Velodrome, 1986-89 Piazza Duomo)

1990-1994: Milano to Monza

1995-2001:Varese to Bergamo

2002: Cantù to Bergamo

2003: Como to Bergamo

2004-2006: Mendrisio (Switzerland) to Como

2007-2009: Varese to Como
2010: Milano to Como
2011: Milano to Lecco
2012-2013: Bergamo to Lecco
2014-2016: Como to Bergamo
2017-2020: Bergamo to Como