Tadej Pogaar is putting previewers out of business. Hes won the last three editions of this race and his late season form seems so good so he can ride into the history books and for a change swap comparisons with Eddy Merckx for one with Fausto Coppi, who also won this race four times (1946-1949) but also took a fifth win in 1954.Its hard to write about the other contenders because how to get ahead of Pogaar? Still it might be fun to see them try.The RouteOf all the five Monuments, Lombardias route changes the most. As this mornings LEquipe mused this comes with peril as the race searches for its cultural anchor points. Watch the race on Saturday and itll look like Lombardia and the annual Bergamo-Como parentheses surely work better than past editions of years ago where the race finished in Milan, far from any climbs.This years edition is Bergamo-Como, 252km and well over 4,000m of vertical gain. The first four climbs contribute plenty to the days vertical gain with the Selvino a staple of the race and locals alike. It makes the first two hours or more hard going.The Madonna del Ghisallo is tackled via a new route. Rather than the poor mans spaceship ramp out of Bellagio as Gianni Brera once wrote, this way up is more a paupers travelator or in more cycling terms, a big ring kind of climb. At the top the race will pass the chapel and cycling museum in the other direction before descending to the lake for a breather. Only just as the road is narrow and being in position for the Sormano climb counts for plenty.Colma is an old word for a pass or a peak (from the Latin culmen, as in culminate) and this is a familiar climb but its not the Muro, the vicious side road, but just the main climb up. Its a quasi-Alpine climb, 13km at 6.4% but if we scratch the small flat area before the top most if the climb is 7% or more.The Finish: no Citiglio and the San Fermo features once which makes for a less selective finish, and probably more action before on the Sormano. Still its not easy, a tight turn at foot places a premium on going in first before the narrow road twists up through the woodland, its 2.7km at 7% reaching 10% before the top. Then its downhill and a slight modification to the finish with the race no longer finishing by the lake but more inland because of high water but it stays flat.The Contenders: Tadej Pogaar has won the last three editions, the course suits and hes in form. To paraphrase Pavel Sivakov after the Zrich Worlds, Pogaar was doing 700 watts uphill and Sivakovs problem was he kept doing this on the descent, then on the flat and he just couldnt follow the relentless pace. This makes him the five-chainring pick in sport they dont equate to 100% probability.Pogaars helped even more by a strong UAE squad where Marc Hirschi, Jan Christen, Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov could all win but if theyre somehow in the mix for the win then so will be others from rival teams so as much as UAE may want to redistribute some opportunity, why risk it? For some this is boring, for others its the chance to see someone leading in their field at their pomp, like watching Fangio, Jordan or Woods. Theres no right and wrong here. However returning to the team theyre strong but lack a tractor-like rider who can pull on the flat as well as the climbs and rivals might want to exploit this.As ever the way to win is to move before Pogaar does but as weve seen lately he goes earlier than most expect. So itll be interesting to see the early breakaway and whether some big names go clear along with the usual Polti-Kometa and Bardiani invitees. Otherwise good luck to anyone hoping to stay on Pogaars wheel on the Sormano.This is the problem with citing all the other riders, someone like Tom Pidcock (Ineos) can sprint well, handles the climbs and especially the descents well and is searching for a result when others have already gone on holiday yet if anyone leaves it to the Sormano then Pogaar can take 30 seconds or more on the climb and parlay this into a minute going into Como.Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) is the other star name and itll be interesting to see what his plan is. He spoke of fatigue in his pre-race presser but some form should still be left, its more how to use it. Surprise perhaps, barging away on a flat piece of road where relative to Pogaar hes got an advantage and remember UAEs relative weakness here too. But pre-Sormano this implies building a buffer for the climb; post-Sormano implies hes still with the Slovenian.Enric Mas (Movistar) has been second here before and the form looks right now too but hed like a more selective finish to help narrow things down.Matteo Jorgenson leads a strong Visma-LAB and for a thought experiment, imagine how things would have been for the Dutch team had he not signed for them? Theres a lesson for UAE and us onlookers too when it comes to expectations for the following season.Another American contender is Neilson Powless whos just won Gran Piemonte. That race has an ever-changing course but the recent edition was like a mini-Lombardia and Georg Steinhauser was looking strong too so up them to invent something.Romain Bardet (DSM Firmenich-PostNL) rides his last Lombardia and is a sentimental pick. This was one of the races that made him when, as a neo-pro in 2012, he was on the attack. Back then a young pro active late into a 250km race was sign of potential. Hes got a capable team with Kevin Vermaerke capable of finishing off a solid season.Roger Adria has proved a useful signing for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe but a Monument is probably asking too much.Simon Yates (Jayco) can say goodbye to the team hes been with for a decade and having finished fith in Emilia the form is there for a result.David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) could be like Mas as a Vuelta finisher in form but is less reassuring and how to win, as if hes alright in a sprint there are faster. Among them team mate Romain Grgoire.Bahrain probably want the season to hurry up and end, theyve slipped to 17th in the UCI rankings for this year. Still Pello Bilbao and Antonio Tiberi bring options.Home hopes probably rest on Giulio Ciccone who can climb with the best and packs a decent sprint, plus he was looking aggressive in Gran Piemonte but turning this into a result is tough.We could look wider, think Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Davide Piganzoli (Polti-Kometa) or Alessandro Pinarello (VF-Bardiani-CSF) but of course for these riders just to get ahead of a few names above would impress, let alone finding away past Pogaar and Evenepoel.Tadej PogaarRemco EvenepoelTom Pidcock, Enric MasHirschi, Jorgenson, Yates2, Vansevenant, Ciccone, Bilbao, BardetWeather: 17C and mostly cloudy. The poetic label of the race of the falling leaves (la classica delle foglie morte for locals) feels redundant, even bizarre, in recent years given spells of warm weather in September and October. But this year the weathers been very different since early September and so look out for the autumnal tones and even leaves on the road.TV: RAI for locals and VPN surfers where its live from 10.25 CEST on RAI Sport, then 2.00pm on RAI Due. See Eurosport-Discovery-Warner-HBO-whatever-its-called-where-you-live for the international feed. KM0 is at 10.35am and the finish is forecast for 5.00pm Euro time.The post Lombardia Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.