French rider Paul Seixas won Il Lombardia on Saturday, claiming the first Monument victory of his career ahead of Spain's Enric Mas and Italy's Giulio Ciccone.
The 20-year-old attacked 19km from the finish in Como, pulling clear on the Civiglio climb with Britain's Tom Pidcock and Ciccone the only riders able to follow. He dropped both rivals a few hundred metres later and rode alone over the final 18km.
Seixas, who finished fourth in this year's Tour de France, became the youngest Monument winner since 1944 and the youngest ever winner in Lombardy. The Decathlon–CMA CGM rider is the first Frenchman to win a Monument since Julian Alaphilippe at Milan–San Remo in 2019, and the first to triumph at the Giro di Lombardia since Thibaut Pinot in 2018.
Before the race, riders staged a five-minute protest to highlight growing safety concerns following a series of incidents involving race vehicles. It came days after riders Thomas Gloag and Marcel Camprubi were struck by a police motorcycle travelling in the opposite direction during Tre Valli Varesine.
After organisers completed the start countdown, the peloton remained stationary, before Belgium's double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel stepped forward to explain the riders' action.
"There's too many incidents happening with vehicles in the race," Evenepoel said. "Unfortunately we lost the life of a brother and of a colleague of us, so we want to make this statement to show to the world that we cannot keep accepting the fact that guys are getting injured or literally dying in what we like the most to do."
Evenepoel was referring to the death of British cyclist Finlay Tarling, younger brother of Ineos rider Josh Tarling, who was killed in a collision with a vehicle during the Tour of Portugal on 14 August. The demonstration delayed the start of the final Monument race of the season by five minutes before the peloton set off.