Gazzetta Challenge - Giro di Lombardia, Como, October 2007
Lombardia weekend - Saturday dawns bright and clear. After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel we head out along the coast road towards Argegno. All along the shore we pass through village after village with nary a sign of a car thanks to the main road being routed through tunnels up above us.

The road rolls along dipping and rising as it hugs the lake shore. Never too taxing it is perfect for warming up the legs before we reach Argegno.

Here we take the ramped turn to San Fedele D'Intelvi. After a brace of step switchbacks the road opens out and the gradient settles to a more "civilised" 8%. About halfway into the 8km climb it starts to snake a little more hiding the next challenges from us. The houses start to come appear more frequently, dangling the hope of the summit caffeine reward in front of us.

Finally, we roll into the town square and claim our spot at the apex of the turn, and await the first escapees of the day.

Twenty minutes later, and the square has filled up just as the tell-tale helicopter hovers into view. Minutes later, the riders appear down the climb. In a few fleeting seconds they pass and we count the minutes to the bunch.

A few minutes later they duly arrive and cruise through the square. This early in the race they're not fussed about a minor break going clear by a few minutes.

Once the caravan of officials and possibly every Carabinieri in the area have left, we retrace our route down the well surfaced sweeping descent to the lake and lunch in Como.

After lunch on the terrace of one of Como's many cafés, we head out toward Erba to catch the race once more.

We stop at Albavilla, 23km from the finish. More coffee is ordered and we bask in the sun until Quickstep's Matteo Tosatto races through in a last ditch effort to stay clear into Como. He isn't looking good for the win though as the main contenders blast through in pursuit less than a minute later.

The remnants of the bunch pass through a few minutes later, their work done for the day.

We follow on behind them to try and see the finish, but our work is cut out for us as they have a good head start. Thankfully, our route back to Lungo Lario Trento is virtually all downhill. Half an hour later we are picking our way through the back streets of Como towards the lake. Finally, we emerge by the barriers less than 100m from the finish line. The announcer rattles away in Italian. Cunego, Ricco, are the only recognisable words, but the meaning is clear.

All of a sudden a cheer goes up from the crowd. Ricco and Cunego shoot by. And then it's over. Cunego wins Lombardia for a second time, after waiting till just 100m to go!

And tomorrow we ride on the same roads as them, I can't wait!

Sean.