33 points (1559 versus Katusha's 1526) is the margin the Movistar Team will hold heading into the final race of the 2015 UCI WorldTour: Il Lombardia, the last monument of the classics season and one of the most demanding races of the year, over 245km with the climbs of Madonna del Ghisallo, Colma / Muro di Sormano, Civiglio and San Fermo into the last two hours of racing. An event which Alejandro Valverde, already winner of the 2015 individual ranking and 5th-placed in last Sunday's Worlds road race, holds a grudge with.

The Spanish champion, runner-up in both 2013 and 2014 races, will lead an eight-man group directed by José Luis Jaimerena, which also includes another great reference for Eusebio Unzué's group in Giovanni Visconti, 8th on Thursday's Milano-Torino. Andrey Amador, Ion Izagirre, Marc Soler, Jasha Sütterlin, José Joaquín Rojas and Javi Moreno complete the group the Blues will bring to their final European stop in 2015, their calendar set to come to an end at the Abu Dhabi Tour (October 8th-11th).