Vincenzo Nibali wins Il Lombardia solo after thrilling descent

Vincenzo Nibali claimed the biggest one-day win of his career at the Monument classic Il Lombardia on Sunday thanks to a superb piece of descending off the penultimate climb.

The 30-year-old Astana rider attacked out of an elite lead group of seven riders on a downhill section with around 16km to go and hung on over the day's final climb to beat Daniel Moreno (Katusha) into second place by 21 seconds and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) into third by 32 seconds.

It was his first victory in one of cycling's five Monuments and salvages a 2015 season that had previously been tainted by poor results and controversies in the Grand Tours.

Nibali said: "It's never simple to win a race of this stature, but it was my time to win it."

The 245km race, which started in Bergamo and ended in Como, burst into life on the fourth of the day's seven climbs, the Muro Di Sormano, where ramps in excess of 25 per cent in gradient blew the peloton to pieces.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx - Quick-Step) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) moved into the lead over the summit and opened up a gap of more than 30 seconds on a chase group led by Nibali's Astana, but they were quickly caught and dropped when the race arrived at the 4km climb to Civiglio.

Nibali launched three provisional attacks on the ascent to whittle the group down and tire his rivals, and he then struck what turned out to be the decisive blow by attacking for a fourth time at the beginning of the subsequent descent.

While the chasers tiptoed their way over roads dry in places but wet in others, Nibali produced a breathtaking display of descending to open up a gap of about 40 seconds by the bottom.

He had the same margin leading on to the final climb, to San Fermo Della Battaglia, but he then tired and saw it cut to 14 seconds by the summit after Moreno attacked out of the chase group at ferocious speed.

However, once safely over the top, Nibali yet again called upon his superior descending skills to reopen his lead over Moreno and seal a prestigious win.

It ends his season on a high note following the lows of two spats with Chris Froome at the Tour de France and his expulsion from the Vuelta a Espana for getting a tow from his team car.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished fourth to ensure he will end the 2015 season as the world's No 1-ranked rider.

Result

1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 6:16:28

2 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, +21sec

3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr, +32

4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +46

5 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana, same time

6 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, st

7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, +56

8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, st

9 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, st

10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, +1:10