Como is the most theatrical of the Italian lakes, an inverted Y of deep water walled in by mountains, and the wedge of high ground between its two arms is the most storied small kingdom in cycling. This is the Larian Triangle. Bellagio sits at its tip, ferries thread the water below, and every road that leaves the shore goes up. The climbing is never Alpine in scale. It is Alpine in feel, hairpins stacked above the water, villages balanced on ledges, and from the high points the view runs from the Grigne clear across to the Monte Rosa wall.
This is the home ground of Il Lombardia, the race of the falling leaves, run since 1905 and the most beautiful of the five Monuments. The Ghisallo has been in it since 1919, and in 1949 Pope Pius XII declared the Madonna del Ghisallo the patroness of cyclists, which made the little chapel at its summit the sport's one true shrine. The Muro di Sormano was added in 1960 to break the race and did it so well it was banished for half a century. The modern finale circles Como itself, over Civiglio and San Fermo, where Nibali soloed to his wins in 2015 and 2017 and Pogacar launched his 2024 victory from the Colma di Sormano.
The geography is absurdly kind to a cyclist. Base in Bellagio or Como and the entire canon sits inside a single day's ride, the chapel, the Muro, the Colma and the Como walls all linked by balcony roads above the water. The ferries work as team cars, hop one across the lake and ride home the long way. And when the famous climbs are done, the west shore hides the Bisbino, the biggest ascent in the region, on a road the race has never once used.
