Another edition of Il Lombardia, another new course. And this time, organisers RCS may have found a course that can be kept for the next few years.

RCS have argued that Il Lombardia doesn’t have much about it that makes it memorable, other than the Madonna di Ghisallo climb, and they have tried to create a tough course for this year’s race that will become iconic, like the other Monument’s routes and key climbs/sectors.

“With respect to Lombardia, which is a true and hard course, it would no longer be Sanremo if you finished in another town or begin in another city besides Milan,” RCS Sport’s head of cycling, Mauro Vegni, told VeloNews. “Sanremo is Sanremo. Sanremo is the world championship of the sprinters, Sanremo is the story of cycling with Roubaix and others.”

“Not to take away from Lombardia, but … Lombardia does not have continuity, it did not always start in Milano or finish in Como, or start in Como and arrive in Varese. Paris-Roubaix always followed that course even if it does not start in Paris and had small changes, it’s classic. Sanremo changed small things, the addition of the Cipressa and then the Poggio, but they are insignificant and don’t change the classic route.”

The Ghisallo will always be part of Lombardia, but it is not the toughest climb. RCS have constantly added and removed a climb that may be the toughest of any piece of road used in the Monuments: The Muro di Sormano. The climb lasts just 2km, but averages 15.8% and has a maximum of almost 30% on its hairpins, reducing climbing gods to their smallest gears.

This climb is the one that RCS wants people to associate with the race, and it is certainly tough enough to do so. The only problem is that is doesn’t come close enough from home to make it truly spectacular. 

Whether RCS have found a route that can last like the other Monument’s routes have, only time will tell. At least for this year, they have produced a tough course that will provide racing and action in the final.