There is a moment in the year when cycling returns to the lake and autumn becomes part of the race. Il Lombardia belongs to Como in that sense too: through the roads descending towards the city, the Ghisallo, San Fermo and a landscape that has provided the backdrop to some of the most beautiful chapters in the race’s history.
Winner of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, Vincenzo Nibali is one of the few riders in cycling history to have won all three Grand Tours.
Vincenzo Nibali has ridden through it many times, first chasing victory and then carrying away, above all, the feelings it left behind.
"It affected me deeply on an emotional level."
When he first rode Il Lombardia in 2005, he was still very young. He remembers little about the result — he thinks he may have abandoned — but he has never forgotten what it meant simply to be there.
"I didn’t yet have the experience needed to approach a race like that in the right way. For a boy who had left the South and moved to Tuscany, finding myself racing a Monument was something extraordinary."
Il Lombardia came at the end of the season, when there were already thousands of kilometres in the legs and the colours of autumn had begun to appear along the roads. Nibali quickly understood that this was not a race you could simply ride.
"I fell in love with it immediately. Year after year, my desire to win it grew, and eventually I managed to do it in 2015, after several attempts. I had come close before. Once I was caught near the finish, another time I crashed at a decisive moment."
The more he returned, the more he learned to understand the race.
"Over time, I realised that Il Lombardia is a race you have to study and know in depth. And when you feel particularly connected to a race, you experience it with even greater intensity and suffering."
For Nibali, Il Lombardia also has a very precise geography. And it leads to Como.
"For me, the real Lombardia has always been the one that finishes in Como, coming through the Ghisallo, Civiglio and San Fermo della Battaglia."
It is the Lombardia of the Race of the Falling Leaves, the one he remembers from his early years as a professional.
"When I started racing it, it really was the Race of the Falling Leaves: cold, rain and fallen leaves on the roads. They made the race even harder. It wasn’t only a physical challenge, but a battle against the weather and against the course itself."
Even the memory of his 2015 victory comes with an image of Como.
"It was really cold, then the sun came out over Como and I won in front of an incredible crowd."
In a race at that level, though, there is very little room to take in what is happening around you.
"During the race, you hardly notice the landscape around you, because when you’re racing you are completely focused on your performance."
There is one exception.
The Ghisallo.
"Perhaps the only moment when it is impossible not to feel something special is the passage over the Ghisallo. You can’t help but see the bell tower, hear the bells ringing and feel the crowd pushing you on."
For a few seconds, the rider becomes aware of his surroundings again. The bell tower, the bells, the people lining the road: a place where the history of cycling enters directly into the race.
"First of all, there is its history. It is a Monument and its roll of honour is full of extraordinary champions. Then there is everything around the Ghisallo, Fiorenzo Magni wanting a sanctuary dedicated to the world of cycling, the museum. There are so many things that make it unique."
For Nibali, over the years, Il Lombardia also became a personal story.
"The day I won Il Lombardia was my wife’s birthday and, on another occasion, the race coincided with the birth of my second daughter. It almost felt like a family race!"
And then there are the roads. Hard climbs and technical descents, terrain that always brought out one of the most recognisable qualities of the way Nibali raced.
"Descending was always fun for me. I often used it as a weapon to attack or, at other times, to defend myself, for example to make up ground when, unfortunately, I wasn’t at my best on the climbs."
But even Nibali is quick to draw a line.
"Il Lombardia is won above all by being strong uphill, while on the descents you have to be very careful because there are technical and dangerous sections."
His relationship with Como, meanwhile, continued away from the race. Nibali has lived in Lugano for many years and the city has become part of his everyday life.
"I feel a certain connection to Como. The city is very close and I often come over, walk through the historic centre, stop at a restaurant or simply have a coffee."
It is here that the connection between the race and the place becomes even more personal.
"For me, Il Lombardia was almost my home race."
There is also a coincidence Nibali likes to remember: he won his two editions of Il Lombardia wearing the numbers 31 and 41, the same numbers he wore when he won the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.
"An incredible coincidence!"
Today, Como moves at a different pace for him. The roads he once rode with the finish line in mind are now roads he can finally experience without rushing.
"Today I can enjoy Como more calmly. I appreciate the historic centre, the shops inside the old walls, the lakefront and the atmosphere of the city. I still ride through Como often when I’m training. It’s a city I like very much and one I continue to visit with great pleasure."
Il Lombardia has remained part of his personal story, while Como has continued to be part of it long after the racing ended.
For a coffee, a walk by the lake or simply a ride on the bike. Home.