The 108th edition of the race of the falling leaves, Il Lombardia, led the riders over 254 kilometers from Como to Bergamo today. Daniel Martin (Garmin Sharp) launched a successful attack over the last kilometer to take his second Monument victory following last year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège win.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Rui Costa (Lampre Merida) completed the podium. After Team NetApp – Endura rode a very aggressive race throughout the day Tiago Machado crossed the finish line in 18th place.

"As we said, it was our aim to liven the race up. I think we really managed to do that today. Paul was in the first group. Unfortunately, he hit a few problems after 180 kilometers as a result of a hunger flat,  but after that we still had a tight group of five riders in the pursuing bunch. Leo attacked in the final stretch and invested a lot of energy.”

“Unfortunately he was then afflicted by cramps, which set him back and certainly robbed him of a good result. I think if we can still attack in the final stretch of a Monument, then we have lived up to our invitation as a team and put in a strong bid for future invitations," says Sport Director Christian Pömer to the NetApp website.

Shortly after the start, NetApp-Endura rider Paul Voss was one of the first to attack out of the bunch. In doing so, he initiated an early breakaway group of eight riders, to which three more pursuers were added in the course of the race. The following bunch soon settled for this situation and allowed the lead to grow to over eight minutes.

70 kilometers before the finish, on way up to the highest climb of the day, Paul Voss had to pay the price for his lengthy escape attempt and let his fellow breakaway riders pull away from him. Increases in pace on the following climbs led to the leading group becoming smaller and smaller, and finally being caught by a large pursuing group.  At that point there were further attacks and Leopold König managed to break away with two other riders 20 kilometers from the finish.

Unfortunately, cramps forced him to drop back into the bunch, before this group was also caught a little later. On the last climb, the Bergamo Alta, three kilometers before the finish, there was a breakaway by the group that would decide the race, out of which the subsequent winner attacked.