Toothy Lombardia On Tap in 2016

RCS Sport released the Lombardia info today, and the season's final monument, held on October 1, will be a punishing one indeed. Call this the world championships for climbers (since they need not apply to the actual worlds in Qatar). Call it a beefing up of the most famous autumn race of them all. RCS calls it a fine way to celebrate edition number 110.

Lombardia is definitely first among the Monuments of Cycling when it comes to changing things up. Yes, Flanders has done some overhauling, but nothing like the regular revisions we see at Lombardia. Here's the 2015 course:

And 2014...

And 2013...

If you want to find some precise similarities between the various editions, good luck. The most I can say for now is that it looks like they took the 2014 profile and shoved it into a wall. Of course, for the riders themselves, no matter how you slice it this is a race for the climbers, with an emphasis on making selections and trying to escape for the win late in the game. That part doesn't change.

None of this year's climbs sounds terribly difficult, with the Madonna del Ghisallo being the steepest, but so early in the race it will garner no real notice. Instead, the course designers have gone all in on quantity, with 3000 meters of climbing in the final 115km of the race.

October 1 is (thankfully) a ways off, so I don't want to go into full preview mode just yet. So, enjoy the prospect of a real slugfest at the Race of the Falling Leaves, not that far away from today.