Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) smiled on the podium of Il Lombardia as if he had won. His second place behind an untouchable Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was a personal victory and a source of huge satisfaction, coming just three months since a spectator-caused crash on stage 12 of the Tour de France to L´Alpe d´Huez left him with a fractured vertebrae. Nibali wanted a third victory at Il Lombardia; he wanted to dedicate victory to his wife on their wedding anniversary and remember his grandfather who died this year. He wanted to prove that he was back to his best and that the pain and suffering of the last three months was worth it. His daughter, Emma, stood proudly with her dad on the podium, thinking he had won. The many Italian tifosi also cheered Nibali as if he had won Il Lombardia too.ADVERTISEMENT `I´d hoped to win for lots of reasons, and I never ride to finish second, but Pinot was on a great day. There was nothing else I could do. Pinot deserved to win,` Nibali said sportingly. `I´ve given it everything to get back to my best, but it´s been difficult. I was always playing catch up. The doctors said I´d need three months to recover without the operation, and it´s been three months now, so to finish second at Il Lombardia makes what I´ve been through worth it. It´s definitely a kind of victory for me.` Nibali was expecting a battle with Pinot and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), but a different race emerged over the top of the steep Colma di Sormano. Valverde was surprisingly isolated and struggling. Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) had forced the pace on the double-digit gradient of the wall of Sormano, then Nibali and Pinot seized the initiative.
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