Recap: The Autumn Emperor
Pogačar’s Lombardy legacy, Trentin’s timeless triumph, and UAE’s unstoppable streak
Tadej Pogačar 🇸🇮 wrote yet another page in cycling history this weekend — conquering Il Lombardia for the fifth consecutive year. With this victory, he joined Fausto Coppi 🇮🇹 atop the all-time leaderboard and became the first rider ever to win the same Monument five times in a row.
It was a week where eras overlapped: Pogačar’s reign continued, Matteo Trentin 🇮🇹 turned back the clock in Paris–Tours, and UAE Team Emirates 🇦🇪 extended their record-breaking march.
🏆 Most Wins — Il Lombardia
5 — 🇸🇮 Tadej Pogačar (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
5 — 🇮🇹 Fausto Coppi (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954)
4 — 🇮🇹 Alfredo Binda (1925, 1926, 1927, 1931)
3 — 🇮🇹 Damiano Cunego (2004, 2007, 2008)
3 — 🇮🇪 Sean Kelly (1983, 1985, 1991)
3 — 🇮🇹 Gino Bartali (1936, 1939, 1940)
3 — 🇮🇹 Costante Girardengo (1919, 1921, 1922)
3 — 🇮🇹 Gaetano Belloni (1915, 1918, 1928)
3 — 🇫🇷 Henri Pélissier (1911, 1913, 1920)
📊 Most Consecutive Wins in a Monument Classic or World Championship
5 — 🇸🇮 Tadej Pogačar (Il Lombardia 2021–2025)
4 — 🇮🇹 Fausto Coppi (Il Lombardia 1946–1949)
3 — 🇳🇱 Mathieu Van der Poel (Paris–Roubaix 2023–2025)
3 — 🇸🇰 Peter Sagan (World Championships 2015–2017)
3 — 🇮🇹 Moreno Argentin (Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1985–1987)
3 — 🇮🇹 Francesco Moser (Paris–Roubaix 1978–1980)
3 — 🇧🇪 Eddy Merckx (Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1971–1973)
3 — 🇮🇹 Fiorenzo Magni (Ronde van Vlaanderen 1949–1951)
3 — 🇮🇹 Alfredo Binda (Il Lombardia 1925–1927)
3 — 🇫🇷 Octave Lapize (Paris–Roubaix 1909–1911)
🏆 Riders with Most Monument Victories
19 — 🇧🇪 Eddy Merckx
11 — 🇧🇪 Roger De Vlaeminck
10 — 🇸🇮 Tadej Pogačar
9 — 🇮🇹 Fausto Coppi
9 — 🇮🇹 Costante Girardengo
9 — 🇮🇪 Sean Kelly
8 — 🇳🇱 Mathieu van der Poel
8 — 🇧🇪 Rik Van Looy
7 — 🇮🇹 Gino Bartali
7 — 🇧🇪 Tom Boonen
7 — 🇨🇭 Fabian Cancellara
🏆 Riders with 5+ Wins in the Same Monument
🇮🇹 Costante Girardengo — Milano–Sanremo
🇮🇹 Fausto Coppi — Il Lombardia
🇧🇪 Eddy Merckx — Milano–Sanremo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège
🇸🇮 Tadej Pogačar — Il Lombardia
📊 Pogačar’s 2025 Monument Season
🥉 — 🇮🇹 Milano–Sanremo
🥇 — 🇧🇪 Ronde van Vlaanderen
🥈 — 🇫🇷 Paris–Roubaix
🥇 — 🇧🇪 Liège–Bastogne–Liège
🥇 — 🇮🇹 Il Lombardia
✅ First rider in history to podium in all five Monuments within a single season
✅ Only the second ever (after Merckx) to win three Monuments in one year
📈 Victory Percentage Since 2023
62 wins in 166 races → 37.35% 🏆
A modern dominance unmatched in the post-Merckx era.
👶 Youth Rising — Paul Seixas 🇫🇷
Paul Seixas finished 7th at Il Lombardia — the youngest rider since WWII to place inside the top ten of a Monument.
Before 1945, several early editions included riders whose birthdates remain uncertain or disputed, making precise comparisons difficult. Yet, according to available records, Ugo Agostoni 🇮🇹 likely holds the all-time mark: at just 16 years and 225 days, he finished 6th in the 1909 Giro di Lombardia, an astonishing feat in cycling’s formative years.
Youngest Top-10 Finishers — Monument (post-WWII)
19-017 — 🇫🇷 Paul Seixas | 2025 | Il Lombardia | 7th
19-249 — 🇮🇹 Valeriano Zanazzi | 1946 | Milano–Sanremo | 8th
20-039 — 🇧🇪 Jos Wouters | 1962 | Ronde van Vlaanderen | 10th
20-047 — 🇧🇪 Jos Wouters | 1962 | Paris–Roubaix | 6th
20-063 — 🇵🇹 Antonio Morgado | 2024 | Ronde van Vlaanderen | 5th
20-074 — 🇧🇪 Jos Wouters | 1962 | Liège–Bastogne–Liège | 4th
20-130 — 🇮🇹 Giorgio Albani | 1949 | Il Lombardia | 6th
20-156 — 🇧🇪 Roger Rosiers | 1967 | Liège–Bastogne–Liège | 7th
20-177 — 🇮🇹 Giuseppe Saronni | 1978 | Milano–Sanremo | 2nd
20-219 — 🇮🇹 Nino Defilippis | 1952 | Il Lombardia | 2nd
For the first time since 2019 — and only the fourth time in history — Il Lombardia ended without an Italian in the top ten. 🇮🇹
Christian Scaroni’s 15th place was the best home result, surpassing Giovanni Visconti’s 17th in 2019 as the lowest top finisher ever for Italy in the Race of the Falling Leaves.
It marked another symbolic shift: a century-old monument once defined by Italian duels — from Binda to Bartali, Coppi, Moser, and Cunego — now finds itself dominated by foreign champions. The leaves still fall over Como, but the tricolore has faded from their reflection.
🚴♂️ Matteo Trentin 🇮🇹 — Paris–Tours Revival
Matteo Trentin became the oldest and joint-most successful rider in Paris–Tours history, securing his third victory at age 36 years and 71 days.
Most Wins — Paris–Tours
3 — 🇮🇹 Matteo Trentin (2015, 2017, 2025)
3 — 🇩🇪 Erik Zabel (1994, 2003, 2005)
3 — 🇧🇪 Guido Reybrouck (1964, 1966, 1968)
3 — 🇫🇷 Paul Maye (1941, 1942, 1945)
3 — 🇧🇪 Gustave Danneels (1934, 1936, 1937)
Oldest Winners — Paris–Tours
36-071 — 🇮🇹 Matteo Trentin (2025)
35-267 — 🇫🇷 Frédéric Guesdon (2006)
35-100 — 🇫🇷 Eugène Christophe (1920)
35-094 — 🇩🇪 Erik Zabel (2005)
34-302 — 🇧🇪 Louis Mottiat (1924)
🏆 UAE Team Emirates — The Machine Rolls On
After victories by Pogačar 🇸🇮 (Tre Valli Varesine, Il Lombardia), Isaac del Toro 🇲🇽 (Gran Piemonte), and Adam Yates 🇬🇧 (Valdengo–Oropa), UAE Team Emirates reached 96 wins in 2025, extending their all-time record.
Most Team Wins in a Season (2005–present)1
96 — 🇦🇪 UAE Team Emirates (2025)
85 — 🇺🇸 Columbia–HTC (2009)
82 — 🇦🇪 UAE Team Emirates (2024)
77 — 🇺🇸 Columbia (2008)
73 — 🇧🇪 Quick-Step Floors (2018)
70 — 🇧🇪 Deceuninck–Quick Step (2019)
🔚 Outro
Five years, five Autumn crowns — and counting.
Pogačar’s Il Lombardia streak has passed into legend, echoing Coppi’s eternal autumns. Trentin reminded the peloton of the beauty of longevity, while UAE’s empire expands still.
If this was the season’s final act, it closed like an aria: precise, grand, and inevitable.
Includes victories in national, continental, and world championships. The UCI Gravel World Championship (won by 🇧🇪 Florian Vermeersch in 2025) is not included in this total.