The snow cuts off stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia 2024, which is once again won by Pogacar

Once again, the weather plays a bad trick on the Giro d'Italia, which was forced to shorten a stage that had already been modified a few days ago after having to cut the climb to the mythical Stelvio. There was a mini one-port stage left with a very steep finish. An ideal situation for Tadej Pogacar to continue adding up and claim his 5th partial victory in the Giro d'Italia 2024.

Pogacar continues unstoppable towards victory on a day marked by snow and cold

New chaos in the Giro d'Italia 2024 in what seems like Groundhog Day for this race. A mountain stage amputated by the application of the infamous extreme weather protocol, and if a few days ago the alteration of the route was news due to the elimination of the complete climb to Stelvio due to the poor condition of the road on its descent after removing the snow that covered the road, a section that was replaced by Passo Umbrail, a pre-port 4 kilometers from the top of the alpine colossus, today the news is that the initial section is completely eliminated.

During the rest day yesterday in Livigno, the talk of the day was the bad weather conditions announced for today. However, the organization stood firm and decided to stick to the planned route until, just before the start, the weather closed in the Livigno area with heavy snowfall, so the decision was made to move the start of stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia to the town of Lasa, right at the foot of Stelvio on the side where they were supposed to descend.

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Thus, the stage remained on a route of just 118 kilometers with the final unchanged in the Dolomites massif where the long ascent to Passo Pinei is linked and the finish in Santa Cristina Valgardena where Monte Pana is ascended, the last 7 kilometers of the stage with its two terrifying finishes, at almost 12% average gradient.

With the stage being so short and the start on favorable terrain, the pace was very fast from the beginning, limiting the possibilities of a breakaway for quality riders in good form. However, it was not surprising that a group of 4 men quickly formed with names that we are already used to reading in this Giro d'Italia 2024: Ballerini, Piccolo, Maestri, and Alaphilippe, in any case, an adventure with a doubtful outcome given the very attractive finish for the strong men in the general classification.

However, it was not Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team that controlled the race, but it was Movistar Team from the beginning who took the lead of the peloton to keep the gap in check, on one hand seeking to maintain the options in the general classification for Einer Rubio, and on the other hand, given Nairo Quintana's good form, perhaps with the idea in mind that the Colombian could try to win this stage after being left wanting in the previous one.

Thus, they reached the beginning of the long ascent to Passo Pinei where Julian Alaphilippe did not hesitate and went ahead. His companions timidly tried to follow the pace but his rhythm would decrease until they were caught by a peloton still led by Movistar. Pelayo Sánchez took advantage of that moment to attack and chase after the Frenchman, but in a strange tactic, Nairo Quintana of Einer Rubio took over from behind, also stopping Pelayo to help.

We would see the reason a couple of minutes later when Romain Bardet lost contact with the main group. However, Nairo's strength did not last long, and he also fell behind, leaving Pelayo Sánchez to set a pace that would also be too much for Einer Rubio, who, seeing that he didn't have the legs, gave way to the Asturian to attack again. However, bad luck struck him, and gear problems forced him to fall back when he was approaching Alaphilippe along with Costiou, Scaroni, and Pellizari who had gone out with him. Fortunately, he quickly solved them and was able to rejoin the group of favorites.

Meanwhile, Alaphilippe crowned with a slim lead. Just a dozen seconds ahead of his pursuers and just over 40 seconds ahead of the group of Tadej Pogacar, who, despite the harsh conditions of the day, was seen pedaling at this stage of the race in short sleeves.

A short descent to, without rest, link up with the ascent towards Santa Cristina Val Gardena where the chasing trio caught up with Alaphilippe while, behind, Rafal Majka took the lead of the group, announcing what was going to happen sooner or later.

Entering the last two tough kilometers, Rafal Majka made his final push so that Pogacar didn't even have to attack, just maintain his pace as the Pole had already managed to drop everyone. Geraint Thomas struggled at first while Arensman seemed to be feeling better, so much so that he had to slow down to wait for his team leader. Meanwhile, the Slovenian advanced towards the finish line with the feeling that he didn't need to give it his all, looking back every now and then to control the gap with Daniel Felipe Martínez, who was the only one able to chase him.

Thus, Tadej Pogacar added his 5th stage victory while a few seconds later Pellizari crossed the line, denying Daniel Felipe Martínez the bonus of second place as he arrived alongside him, while the biggest loser of the day was Geraint Thomas, who conceded around thirty seconds to the Colombian, allowing him to regain the second place on the podium that he had lost a few days ago in the time trial.

Stage 16 Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 2h49'37''
2. Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) +16''
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +16''
4. Christian Scaroni (Astana) +31''
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +33''
6. Thymen Arensman (INEOS-Grenadiers) +38''
7. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +39''
8. Michael Storer (Tudor) +42''
9. Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +42''
10. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +45''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 59h01'09''
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +7'18''
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +7'40''
4. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +8'42''
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +10'09''
6. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +10'33''
7. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +12'18''
8. Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) +12'43''
9. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +13'09''
10. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +14'07''