Game, set, and match for Pogacar in the Giro d'Italia 2024

Tadej Pogacar finishes his excellent Giro d'Italia 2024 with a new and more than predictable victory on the last mountain stage, only missing the triumphant ride through the streets of Rome. 6th stage victory with which the Slovenian certifies his first Giro d'Italia, a race that he will win as a leader from the second day with tremendous dominance, leaving the second place in the general classification almost 10 minutes behind.

Sixth stage victory for Tadej Pogacar to seal the Giro d'Italia 2024

Tadej Pogacar continues to enhance his legend after achieving no less than 6 victories in this Giro d'Italia 2024, five of them in the pink jersey and wearing the coveted garment from the second to the penultimate stage on the last selective day remaining in the race.

For the final blow, the organization had prepared a tough stage with Monte Grappa as the main feature. 184 kilometers between Alpago and Bassano del Grappa with a completely flat first half, only with the traditional Ca' del Poggio wall to break the monotony and a second part marked by two consecutive ascents to Monte Grappa, a total of 18 kilometers and crowned for the second time almost 30 km from the finish.

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The breakaway of the day was quickly formed, initially formed by Ballerini and Germani, joined by 9 more cyclists with names like Nicola Conci, Jimmy Janssens, Andrea Vendrame, Pelayo Sánchez, Pellizzari. A breakaway that, with the approval of the peloton, gained a juicy advantage.

With the first ramps of Monte Grappa, the usual natural selection in the breakaway occurred, leaving Pelayo Sánchez, Janssens, Tonelli ahead, and, already crowning the mountain, Giulio Pellizzari, who, despite knowing that he could no longer win the blue jersey, mathematically in possession of Tadej Pogacar, made an effort to pass first through the mountain, cutting the differences.

Meanwhile, behind, UAE Team Emirates set a relentless pace that steadily reduced the advantage of the escapees, making Pogacar's intentions clear to win another stage.

The cyclists were able to experience the descent on this first downhill, which hid a small trap of a kilometer and a half at 9% gradient, crowned, in the second pass, by the bonus sprint of the day.

With the start of the second climb, Giulio Pellizzari showed his strength again and dropped Pelayo Sánchez, going decisively in pursuit of an improbable victory given the slim advantage he had for the length of the ascent to Monte Grappa. And, as expected, with less than 7 kilometers to go to the top, the penultimate stage of the UAE rocket was activated with the entry of Rafal Majka, who simply with his pace, not only selected the group of favorites but even dropped Geraint Thomas. Before that, Filippo Zana and Romain Bardet had dropped from the General Top10.

Following the Slovenian and Polish riders were Daniel Felipe Martínez, Antonio Tiberi, and Einer Rubio until, a kilometer later, Tadej Pogacar accelerated and went decisively towards an unassailable victory. This left the attention focused on the battle between the trio in which Tiberi and Daniel Felipe Martínez shared efforts, one to secure his second place in the classification and the other to try to take Geraint Thomas' podium spot.

Meanwhile, behind, the group in which Thomas, Ben O'Connor, and Storer were riding found the invaluable work of Valentin Paret-Paintre, who not only saved the day for his team leader but also for the Welsh cyclist, allowing them to crest just 10 seconds behind their rivals when everything seemed to be going wrong. The Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale cyclist would finish the job on the climb halfway down the descent, managing to catch up.

Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar had time not only to bask in the adulation, greeting the fans, many of them Slovenian due to the proximity of the Veneto region with that country, or to brighten the day of a young fan by giving him a bidon freshly picked up from his helper in an image that further enhances the figure of the UAE Team Emirates cyclist.

Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line with over two minutes of advantage over the pursuers, where only the third place achieved by Daniel Felipe Martínez in a tight sprint, which allowed him to gain valuable bonus seconds, prevented the gap between him and Pogacar in the general classification from exceeding 10 minutes.

Stage 20 Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4h58'23''
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +2'07''
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2'07''
4. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +2'07''
5. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +2'07''
6. Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) +2'07''
7. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +2'07''
8. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +2'07''
9. Michael Storer (Tudor) +2'31''
10. Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) +3'08''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 76h22'13''
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +9'56''
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +10'24''
4. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +12'07''
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +12'49''
6. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +14'31''
7. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +15'52''
8. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +18'05''
9. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +20'32''
10. Michael Storer (Tudor) +21'11''