An imperial Tadej Pogacar conquers his first Giro d'Italia

Road 26/05/24 18:41 Migue A.

The first of the three great tours concludes with a monumental finish in Rome, a replica of the previous year's edition of the Giro d'Italia. The 2024 edition, despite meeting the previous predictions, has allowed us to enjoy good cycling thanks to Tadej Pogacar's insatiable hunger for victories, which his directors have had to keep in check so that he did not attack excessively or too early thinking about the next Tour de France.

Pogacar checks off the first objective, next stop, the Tour de France

Stage 21 of the Giro d'Italia 2024 with a finish in Rome with a route practically identical to that of the previous year. 125 km of stage with a first part of going and returning to Ostia, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, ideal for the typical celebrations and homage to the winner that take place in these final stages, and return to the eternal city where a winding circuit around some of the most emblematic places of Rome such as the Baths of Caracalla, the Tiber riverbank, the imperial forums, and, of course, the impressive Colosseum at whose feet the finish line was located that crowned the emperor of current cycling: Tadej Pogacar.

Just a transitional stage in terms of the different classifications and in which only remained to be seen who would come out on top in the more than predictable mass sprint in the streets of Rome.

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A leisurely pace until the first pass through the finish line, with the usual media bath of the different classification leaders in addition to Domenico Pozzovivo, who was allowed to pass first under the finish line arch in his first pass in what is the farewell of the great Italian cyclist from this race after announcing in February that, at 41 years old, this would be his last season as a professional.

After the pass, a prime attack was launched by Ewen Costiou, Alex Baudin, Mikkel Honore, and Martin Marcellusi, who only managed to gain a few seconds on a route as fast as the one that runs through the streets of Rome, with the interests of the sprinters' teams in a stage that, for them, is just another day of competition with a prestigious victory at stake.

An adventure that concluded just over 13 kilometers before the finish with a peloton led by a UAE Team Emirates that, until the last moment, maintained focus on the race, not only to keep Tadej Pogacar safe from falls until the arrival but also thinking about the possibilities of Juan Sebastián Molano in the final sprint.

An example that victory cannot be sung until the last moment was the mechanical breakdown suffered by Jonathan Milan in the last lap, with just over 8 kilometers to go, forcing him to change bikes and compromising his chances in the sprint even though he managed to catch up with 4 kilometers to go.

But thanks to a tremendous effort by Lidl-Trek, 1.5 kilometers from the finish line, they reappeared at the head of the peloton with Jonathan Milan still in a position to fight for victory, although in the curves leading to the finish line, he got a little boxed in, which Tim Merlier noticed and was the first to launch, from quite a distance. Milan was able to react and stick to his wheel, opening up on one side to overtake, and came very close to achieving his fourth victory. Instead, a tie in the battle between the sprinters as Tim Merlier equaled the Italian with 3 partial wins.