October 15, 2011. One date in Italy, two very different races.

By day, the professional road calendar drew the curtain with the Giro di Lombardia, the final classic of the season. Oliver Zaugg was a surprise but worthy winner in Lecco, dethroning two-time defending champion Philippe Gilbert. It was Zaugg's first professional victory and he couldn't have ended his season in finer fashion.

As darkness fell, in a quiet corner of northwest Milano, the Red Hook Crit blew into town from Brooklyn, USA for its second edition. Track bikes, no brakes, with an energetic and eclectic field. American professional Neil Bezdek dashed through the dark to take top honors, besting Italian (and American) hopefuls on foreign soil.

(Lombardia images: Yuzuru Sunada / RHC images courtesy of Red Hook Crit Milano)