Traditionally, the Tour of Lombardy is decided in the final fifty kilometers. Seven adventurers were allowed
to jump away in the run-up to that. Matteo Tosatto (Quickstep) was by far the strongest but he was naturally also caught up
with.
An elite group of a little over ten cyclists that started the concluding climb, the San Fermo della Battaglia,
together. Damiano Cunego (Lampre) laid the foundation for his victory there by responding swiftly to Riccardo Ricco's (Saunier
Duval) needling. He was the only one to do so.
The lead the two Italians established, however, was not so large that the others did not have a chance anymore.
In the descent, Samuel Sanchez brought himself and his competitors back on the duo's trail. Everything seemed to turn out
okay when Ricco and Cunego came to a standstill in the final kilometer. The same thing happened in the first chasing group
with riders like Thomas Dekker (Rabobank), Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel), Andy Schleck (CSC) and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto). Cunego
easily defeated his compatriot in the sprint between the two.
The two fastest riders were also the course's two best riders. CSC's Frank Schleck was also one of them but
he put himself out of the race in the finale by not paying attention for one second. He then crashed and blew his chances.
Bad luck for the Danish team that had a tight grip on the race.
"It was my own fault and of course I'm really upset about what happened. Sometimes you end up crashing - that's
the name of the game. Everyone could see that we had the strongest team and I definitely had a realistic chance of winning.
But it wasn't meant to happen, I guess. At least Andy was strong out there today and got a great result," said the unlucky
Fränk Schleck after the race.
"For most of the day we managed to control the race the way we'd planned, so it's a
big shame that Fränk crashed like that at the end. Our plan was to make the race as tough as possible and at the same time
have several potentials for the victory in the end. We succeeded, but without Fränk it was difficult to finish the job. You
can't plan against that sort of thing, but we did manage to show our diversity as a team with skills to dominate the big classics,"
said CSC team manager Bjarne Riis.
Rabobank team manager Erik Breukink was satisfied. "Thomas [Dekker] rode a strong finale. And running into
stronger opponents can happen. I am also really satisfied with Robert Gesink. He finished in the group behind Thomas. That
is pretty good for someone in his first Tour of Lombardy."
Cadel Evans won overall of the 2007 UCI Pro Tour. Evans ended the season with 247 points, 50 more
than Italy's Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) who became second. Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is the number three
of this years Pro-Tour.
Evans best result was without any doubt 2nd at Tour de France, but he also finished 2nd
at Dauphiné Libéré, 4th at the Vuelta, 6th of Giro di Lombardia and 7th of Paris-Nice.
Results
1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
5.52.48 (41.16 km/h)
2 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
3 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
0.10
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
5 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner
6 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
7 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
8 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank
9 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick.Step - Innergetic
0.16
10 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor-Lotto
11 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team CSC
12 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
0.19
13 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
0.25
14 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner
0.46
15 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
16 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia
17
Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital
1.12
18 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Team LPR
1.34
19 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas
1.36
20 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner
21 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Liquigas
22 John Gadret (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
23 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quick.Step - Innergetic
24 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
25 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC
26 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis
1.48
27 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano
1.51
28 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel
2.41
29 Pedro Arreitunandia (Spa) Barloworld
30 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
2.50
31 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
3.39
32 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
4.12
33 José Alberto Benítez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
4.38
34 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
4.51
35 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia 5.17
36 Alessandro
Bertolini (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia
37 Manuel Beltrán (Spa) Liquigas
38 Alan Pérez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
39 Josep Jufré (Spa) Predictor-Lotto
7.38
40 Philip Deignan (Irl) Ag2r Prévoyance
8.13
41 Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
8.20
42 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne
43 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
44 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
45 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld
46 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Lampre-Fondital
47 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
48 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Cofidis
49 Rene Mandri (Est) Ag2r Prévoyance
50 Guido Trentin (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
51 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC
52 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC
53 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis
54 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
55 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano
56 Vincent Jérôme (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
57 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
58 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank
59 Miculà De Matteis (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano
60 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick.Step - Innergetic
61 Alessandro Bertuola (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano
62 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas
63 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
64 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia
65 Christophe
Brandt (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
66 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo
67 Dario Cioni (Ita) Predictor-Lotto
68 Marco Velo (Ita) Milram
12.31
69 Blaise Sonnery (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
70 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux
71 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française Des Jeux
72 Steffen Weigold (Ger) Tinkoff Credit Systems
73 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
74 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Milram
75 Daniele Colli (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
76 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Milram
77 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo
78 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram
79 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux
80 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
81 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
82 Davide Viganò (Ita) Quick.Step - Innergetic
83 Jure Golcer (Slo) Tenax-Salmilano
12.34
84 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) Tenax-Salmilano
85 Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita) Milram
86 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis
12.37
87 Félix Rafael Cárdenas (Col) Barloworld
88 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
89 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Gerolsteiner
90 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank
91 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank
92 Juan José Oroz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
93 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
94 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas
95 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
96 Iñaki Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
97 Steve Cummings (GBr) Discovery Channel
98 Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) Team LPR
99 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas
100 Alberto Losada (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
101 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick.Step - Innergetic
12.49
102 Andrea Tonti (Ita) Quick.Step - Innergetic
103 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step - Innergetic
104 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole
