Gazprom – RusVelo is to compete in the monumental Italian race Il Lombardia

This Saturday seventh of October Russian cycling team Gazprom – RusVelo is to compete in Il Lombardia. Italian race is part of UCI World Tour and is one of the most crucial contests in racing calendar.

With the support of famous sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport the race was firstly organized in 1905. Over the years the contest has been catching on and has become one of the five cycling Monuments. As it is held in the end of professional season the race is also known as a “Classic of the falling leaves”.

The route of the 111th edition repeats the road course of 2015. Riders will roll out in Bergamo and after covering 247 kilometres distance will finish in Como. Il Lombardia is considered one of the most challenging contests in racing calendar, which is appealing for pure climbers. Madonna del Ghisallo, Muro di Sormano and San Fermo della Battaglia are the main mountainous tests of the road course. Throughout the race riders are to roll on 4000 metres.

Last year Gazprom – RusVelo debuted in Il Lombardia and this year the Russian cycling team also got an invitation. Whereas young climber Ildar Arslanov is to start “Classic of the falling leaves” for the first time, experienced Pavel Brutt competed in six editions of the Italian Classic. That’s what Pavel said before the upcoming contest: “Last season Il Lombardia had a different route, but when I competed in Il Lombardia for the first time ten years ago the finish line was also in Como. This year the contest features similar road course, which is more appealing to me. Everyone in our team understands that it will be a tough challenge, however we are ready for a fierce competition and will compete with what’s left from our strength to confront the strongest teams.”

Gazprom – RusVelo line-up: Ildar Arslanov, Pavel Brutt, Artem Nych, Igor Boev, Sergey Lagutin, Sergey Firsanov, Ivan Rovny, Dmitry Kozonchuk.