Tom Pidcock goes into Il Lombardia, the final Monument of the year, with a strong run of results behind him but only one win to show for it. The Briton has recorded six top-10 finishes in his last seven races, his sole victory coming at a lower-tier race in Italy at the start of that sequence.
His main target was the World Championships, where he finished seventh, his second-best result at the event. At the Giro dell'Emilia he was second for the third year running, caught out when Davide Piganzoli attacked on the final descent and held on to win by two seconds, despite Pidcock putting in a late dig to drop Oscar Onley.
With Tadej Pogacar injured and recuperating, this autumn has been seen as an open opportunity, but the peloton has largely failed to seize it. Pidcock has raced conservatively at times, trying to balance covering moves with saving something for the finish, and has been out of position at key moments.
Il Lombardia offers Pidcock a chance to end that run of near-misses. He finished sixth there last year at the end of a season that also included the Vuelta a Espana, and this year he has had a comparatively lighter autumn programme, with no five-time champion in Pogacar to contend with.