Irishman Daniel Martin of Garmin-Sharp won the Il Lombardia today and eliminates all the misfortune of his past with Italian races. Martin had to leave the Giro d’Italia in May after a crash, which must be categorized as the opposite of luck.

“I love racing and actually enjoy one-day races the most," says Irishman to CyclingNews.

“I crashed on the last corner last year and that was the start of my bad luck. I think this is full circle and to win Il Lombardia is just incredible,” he told CyclingNews in an interview.

An attack on the final climb was the original plan for the rider, but he rather wanted to go just before the final sprint instead and it succeeded.

“I was actually thinking of attacking on the climb but I didn't have the opportunity,” Martin explained. “I saw that [Philippe] Gilbert, [Alejandro] Valverde, [Michael] Albasini and [Rui] Costa were there and they're all very fast, so I needed to go before the sprint. I moved up to be on Gilbert's wheel, got speed, saw a gap and went. I didn't think about it, it just happened. It was inspiration.

“Then it was a case of not crashing on the last corner. I was quite nervous because I've got a track record ... but it all worked out.”

 “Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège are my two favourite races of the year. I just love these long races and getting eighth in 2009 was when I first realised I could perhaps win it,” he said.