Tadej Pogacar finishes off his excellent Giro d’Italia 2024 with a new and more than predictable victory on the last mountainous day with only the triumphal ride through the streets of Rome to go. This was the sixth stage success with which the Slovenian certifies his first Giro d’Italia, a race that he will win as leader from the second day and with a tremendous forcefulness that leaves the second in the general classification almost 10 minutes behind.
For the penultimate day, the organization had prepared a very hard stage with Monte Grappa as protagonist and 184 kilometers between Alpago and Bassano del Grappa with a completely flat first half, only with the traditional wall of Ca’ del Poggio to break the monotony and a second part marked by two consecutive ascents of Monte Grappa.
The breakaway of the day was formed quickly, first formed by Ballerini and Germani who were joined by nine more riders with names like Nicola Conci, Jimmy Janssens, Andrea Venrame, Pelayo Sanchez, Pellizzari. A breakaway that, with the approval of the peloton was gaining a juicy advantage.
With the first ramps of Monte Grappa the breakaway produced the usual natural selection in the escape that left ahead Pelayo Sanchez, Janssens, Tonelli and, already crowning the port to a Giulio Pellizzari who, despite knowing that he could no longer win the maglia azzurra, mathematically in possession of Tadej Pogacar, strove to pass first through the port cutting the differences.
Meanwhile, behind, UAE Team Emirates set a crushing pace that reduced the advantage of the escapees at a good pace, making clear Pogacar’s intentions to win another stage.
The riders got to know the descent on this first descent, which hid a small trap of a kilometer and a half at 9% crowned, on the second pass, by the bonus sprint of the day.
With the start of the second climb, Giulio Pellizzari again showed his strength and released Pelayo Sanchez and went determined in pursuit of an improbable victory given the small advantage he had for how long the climb to Monte Grappa was.
And, as expected, with just under 7 kilometers to the summit, the penultimate stage of the UAE rocket was activated with the entry of Rafal Majka who, simply with his pace, managed not only to select the group of favorites but even cut Geraint Thomas. Before that, Filippo Zana and Romain Bardet had dropped out of the Top 10 in the general classification.
The Slovenian and Pole Daniel Felipe Martinez, Antonio Tiberi and Einer Rubio were on the wheel until, one kilometer ahead, Tadej Pogacar put on the turbo and went on to an unassailable victory.
This left the attention focused on the fight between the trio in which Tiberi and Daniel Felipe Martinez shared efforts, one to shore up his second place in the standings and the other to try to assault the podium place of Geraint Thomas.
For his part, Tadej Pogacar had time not only to take a bath with the crowds, greeting the fans, many of them Slovenian because of the proximity of the Veneto region with that country, or to brighten the day of a young supporter by giving him a water bottle just picked up from his helper in an image that further enhances the figure of the UAE Team Emirates rider.
The Slovenian crossed the finish line more than two minutes ahead of the chasers, where only the third place achieved by Daniel Felipe Martinez in a tight sprint and that allowed him to get some valuable bonus seconds prevented the difference between him and Pogacar in the overall to go to more than 10 minutes.
Classification Stage 20
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4h58’23”.
2.- Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +2’07”
Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) m.t.
4.- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) m.t.
5.- Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) m.t.
6.- Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) m.t.
7.- Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) m.t.
8.- Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) m.t.
9.- Michael Storer (Tudor) +2’31”.
10.- Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) +3’08”.
General Classification
1.- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 76h22’13”
Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +9’56”.
3.-Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +10’24” 4.
4.- Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +12’07”
5.- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +12’49” +12’49”
6.-Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +14’31”
7.-Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +15’52” +15’52”
8.-Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +18’05”05”
9.-Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +20’32”32”
10.- Michael Storer (Tudor) +21’11” +21’11”