Reflections from Il Lombardia – Peak Pogačar? Seixas confirms, Vegni says goodbye and 2026 is already underway

The 2025 Il Lombardia podium (Image credit: Getty Images)

Tadej Pogačar’s fifth Il Lombardia victory created a new record and more statistical comparisons than even ChatGPT could generate.

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The Slovenian became the first rider to finish on the podium of all five monuments in the same season. In 2025, he also won a fourth Tour de France, the UAE Tour and the Critérium du Dauphiné, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Pogačar won a second consecutive world title in Rwanda and has now won 10 monuments and 108 races.

The tifosi cheer Tadej Pogačar to victory (Image credit: Getty Images)

Tadej Pogačar’s dominance has a flip side to it, with some struggling to digest his dominance and others suggesting he is making races boring to watch with his long-range attacks.

The fans along the roadside of Il Lombardia appeared to think differently as they cheered him to victory, with the tifosi packed on the final Cole Aperto climb near Bergamo so excited that they almost knocked him off his bike.

While close, attacking racing arguably creates the most entertaining racing, it is important to appreciate greatness.

La Gazzetta dello Sport cited Merckx in an editorial about Pogačar’s dominance, recalling that the Cannibal believed that the best rider always has to try to win when they raced. There is little room for gifts in professional cycling, it is too hard a sport to let someone else win after 240km and six hours in the saddle.

Respected Italian journalist Christian Gatti described Pogačar’s dominance as the ‘monotonia dello straordinario’ – ‘the monotony of the extraordinary’.

“Dawn and sunset are monotonous, they’re always the same, with only slight differences each time, yet each one is unique and spectacular,” Gatti wrote on Tuttobiciweb after seeing Pogačar win again.

“Those ‘bored’ by Pogačar only need to wait a few years, Panta rei, everything passes and even Pogačar’s decline will come one day. Sooner or later he’ll try to attack but will fail to drop everyone. He knows that more than anyone. That’s why he never gives up on a chance to win. It’s one of life’s rules, when Pogačar cracks and suffers, nobody will wait for him.”

Paul Seixas in action at Il Lombardia (Image credit: Getty Images)

It may be October but there are signs of a new spring in professional cycling, with the experts hoping for a special vintage in 2026 and beyond, someone able to dethrone Pogačar and perhaps a future French tour de France winner.

Paul Seixas has long been seen as a future super talent, he turned professional with Decathlon AG2R directly from the junior ranks in 2025. However, the wider French public suddenly realised just how good he is after he fought to finish third behind Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel at the European Championships.

He confirmed that performance with seventh at Il Lombardia, making him the youngest rider for over a century to finish in the top ten of a Monument since Luigi Cuppi finished fourth in Milan-San Remo aged just 18.

Cyclingnews saw how Seixas seemed surprised by a scrum of television cameras and journalists beyond the finish line in Bergamo. He just wanted to drink something sweet and fizzy and disappear on his team bus to ease his pain and end his season. Yet it was another milestone in his career.

“I’ve passed a physical milestone but also a mental milestone, where I can now tell myself that I have a place amongst the best riders,” he said humbly.

Seixas’ season ultimately did not end with Il Lombardia. He was forced to travel to Paris for a round of television interviews and forced to admit that yes, one day, he dreams of winning the Tour de France.

Remco Evenepoel on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images)

There were goodbyes and carefully crafted words of thanks but Remco Evenepoel’s farewell to Soudal-QuickStep was a quiet affair, reflecting it is more of a divorce than an amicable uncoupling.

The Belgian was under contract for another year and the team had pivoted to stage racing to back his Grand Tour ambitions. However, Evenepoel is perhaps the most demanding rider in the peloton – demanding of himself and so of his team. He wants to win the Tour de France and realised that Soudal-QuickStep lacked the culture and the funding to satisfy his ambitions.

For two years Evenpoel eventually confirmed he would respect his contract and so stay at Soudal-QuickStep. This year he could not resist Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s courting and so struck a deal to end his contract a year early and wear Red Bull’s distinctive colours in 2026.

“The last seven years are something I will take with me for the rest of my life, but I think now it’s time to start something new,” he told the media in the mixed zone.

Evenepoel is still under contract with the team until the end of the year due to UCI contract rules, but he will soon discreetly meet with his new team to discuss race plans, training and meet with his new teammates to build a new team spirit. 2026 marks a new chapter in his life and career.

RCS Sport cycling director Mauro Vegni (Image credit: Getty Images)

Il Lombardia marked the end of an era in Italian race organisation, with Mauro Vegni admitting that Il Lombardia was his last race as race director.

Cyclingnews saw Vegni in the Il Lombardia podium area in Bergamo and he was strangely relaxed and casually dressed rather than barking orders and trying to make sure everything ran smoothly. There was no suit and tie and no moment on the podium with Pogačar. It was his final moment as a race organiser.

Vegni has designed the 2026 Giro d’Italia route that will start in Bulgaria and be presented in late November but he is due to officially retire in February, before the 2026 RCS Sport races begin.

Now 66 years old, Vegni has worked in a race organisation for almost 50 years. He began as an apprentice with Tirreno-Adriatico founder Franco Mealli in Rome, helped organise the 1994 World Championships in Sicily and then moved to Milan to work for RCS Sport.

He fought with pride to defend Italian cycling and with determination to organise his races despite a myriad of problems. A new team of race management are expected at RCS Sport to replace Vegni, with former sprinter and current technical director Stefano Allocchio becoming the public face of the Corsa Rosa.

“Times have changed, my role will be divided across different people. Now money is everything.” Vegni told Bicisport with a veil of sadness as he walked into the sunset of his career.

Cian Uijtdebroeks finished Il Lombardia but then travelled to China for the Tour of Guangxi (Image credit: Getty Images)

The 2025 season is close to ending but the 2026 season is also underway, with riders from Jayco AlUla undergoing testing and check-ups before they head off on holiday.

Some riders were already posting photographs of their holidays but others are in a 2025-2026 hybrid state. They’re desperately chasing UCI ranking points as Cofidis and Uno-X fight for WorldTour places, Tudor, Q36.5, and others fight for 2026 WorldTour invitations and Grand Tour wild cards.