Lampre-Merida's ambitions for Sunday’s Il Lombardia were put in Scarponi, Ulissi and Cunego.
For various reasons this trio could not live up to expectations and achieve the goals and so it was Kristijan Durasek who delivered the best performance for the blue-fuchsia-green colours.

The Croatian climber pedalled all day long in the group of the top riders and he eventually finished 25th, at 1'33" behind the winner Joaquím Rodriguez (Katusha).

Durasek was unable to follow the best climbers on the final climb of Villa Vergano, at 10 km to the arrival, and was thus forced to give up his ambitions: "I'm happy I could be competitive for most part of the race, but I regret the fact I could not cover the final climb in the best way,” the Croat said.

Scarponi had to quit the race before Colle Brianza, after 120 km from the start: "I had stomach troubles, which I think were caused by indigestion. I don't know the cause, but it was a problem that forced me to stop. I'm sorry because I was willing to realize a very good performance and I think the condition was proper to aim for important goals.”

Ulissi, who won the Milan-Turin race earlier last week, was 28th (+2'46"): "I managed reasonably well on most of the climbs of the parcour and if I was dropped, I recovered without too many problems on the downhills. On Villa Vergano I was not so strong, maybe I suffered for the efforts I had performed in the past two intense weeks. Anyway, I think I'm improving my performances year by year and soon I'll be able to battle for top results in the most important races.”

Cunego joined an attack of 20 riders on Colle Brianza and with the other attackers he led the race until Colma di Sormano: "When I realized that a large group of cyclists was escaping from the bunch, I decided to join it. It was far from the arrival, but it could have been a good chance. Unluckily, the bunch did not allow us to get to a large advantage, so the action was neutralized. Then, I tried to be in the main group, but I didn’t have enough energies left."