A fifth successive Il Lombardia triumph completed another dominant season for the Slovenian, while on the women’s tour Pauline Ferrand-Prévot divided opinion
T
adej Pogacar’s command of world cycling now seems limitless. The Slovenian ended 2025 as he began it, dominating a coveted Italian classic, Il Lombardia, to win the “race of the falling leaves” for the fifth time straight.
The 27-year-old had started his European season by winning the Tuscan gravel race, Strade Bianche. He closed it having matched Italian icon Fausto Coppi’s record of five Lombardy wins and Eddy Merckx’s achievement of winning three “monument” races, the Tour de France and the world road race title in the same year.
In late July, however, a weary Pogacar had talked about early retirement and a sense of burnout, even as he took his fourth yellow jersey. His mid-season low came towards the end of that fourth Tour win, when he seemed withdrawn and disgruntled, as the race closed on Paris. There were whispered rumours that he had been asked to back off a little and resist further stage wins to avoid reducing the Tour to a procession.
