Aru, Costa and Martin lead UAE Team Emirates at Il Lombardia

It's time for the big autumn classic, Il Lombardia, this Saturday, October 13 in Northern Italy

The Race of the Falling Leaves will start in Bergamo and take the riders to Como, covering 241km with the climbs Colle Gallo, Colle Brianza, Madonna del Ghisallo, Muro di Sormano and Civiglio.

Fabio Aru (Italia), Rui Costa (Portugal) and Daniel Martin (Ireland) lead the team, backed up by a strong squad;  Marco Marcato (Italia), Manuele Mori (Italia), Edward Ravasi (Italia) and and  Rory Sutherland (Australia)

“Il Lombardia is a race of high-importance, one of the monuments, an important appointment for our team,” Team Manager Matxin said.”We have selected a high-level group for such a prestigious race. Our seven riders have talent and quality to be protagonists and to pull in results."

Dan Martin won the race in 2014, placed second in 2011 and fourth in 2013. Rui Costa stepped up to third place in 2014, and Fabio Aru pulled in two top 10's.