Tadej Pogacar is red-hot favourite to match a feat only ever achieved by cycling icon Eddy Merckx as the Slovenian superstar bids to win the Tour of Lombardy for the fifth consecutive year.

No-one but Merckx has ever won three Monument races in the same season but world champion Pogacar is on course to cap another remarkable year by equalling that record at the "Race of the Falling Leaves" on Saturday.

In April, the Team UAE rider won both the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege having also finished second at Paris-Roubaix, while a month earlier he was third at Milan-San Remo, meaning he has finished on the podium of all four Monument races so far this season.

Merckx managed a trio of Monument victories four times in his career and has a record 19 wins in the prestigious one-day c

See Full Page