Giro d'Italia 2024: The next Pogacar show! Slovenian also wins the queen stage - Steinhauser finishes third
Thomas Huber
· 19.05.2024
For a long time on the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia, it looked as if the breakaway could decide the stage win among themselves. The peloton kept a low profile for long stretches under the pace work of UAE Team Emrieates. It wasn't until 14 kilometres before the finish that Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) launched an attack after some preparatory work from team-mate Rafal Majka. At this point, Pogacar was three minutes behind the front of the peloton. The Slovenian then flew past all his rivals in inimitable fashion - no rider could even begin to follow Pogacar. Two kilometres before the finish, the last remaining rider, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), had to bury his dream of winning the stage, as Tadej Pogacar's performance was too strong. At the finish, he had a lead of around half a minute over Quintana, with the German Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) in third.
Pogacar in a league of its own
On stage 15, Tadej Pogacar once again proved that he is in a league of his own at the Giro d'Italia 2024. This is also underlined by the overall classification. Pogacar is currently an incredible 6:41 minutes ahead of second-placed Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). Meanwhile, there were no shifts among the top six in the classification. Only Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) improved by one place, while Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step) are new to the top ten.
Steinhauser storms onto the podium
Georg Steinhauser showed an outstanding race on the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia. The EF Education-EasyPost rider was in the breakaway group for a long time, which thinned out as the race progressed. With 21 kilometres to go, he seized the opportunity and attacked from the leading group. As no rider was able to respond at first, he was travelling solo from then on. Around ten kilometres before the finish, Nairo Quintana then passed Steinhauser, who had to bury his hopes of a stage win. He was subsequently only overtaken by Pogacar and kept the other riders around Geraint Thomas and Daniel Felipe Martinez at bay. Steinhauser finished a strong third.
"Everything went well towards the end. I've been preparing for this stage since December. It was important that we kept the race under control. I also have to praise Georg Steinhauser, who did a great job." - Tadej Pogacar in the winner interview
Giro d'Italia 2024 - Results: The top 10 of the 15th stage
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 6:11:41
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +0:29
- Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) +2:32
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +2:47
- Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:50
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:50
- One Rubio (Movistar) +2:58
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:58
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +3:05
- Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:20
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 56:11:46
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +6:41
- Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +6:56
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +7:43
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +9:26
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +9:45
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +10:49
- Filippo Zana (Team Jayco-AlUla) +11:11
- One Rubio (Movistar) +12:13
- Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step) +13:11
How the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2024 went
The 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia not only covered 222 kilometres, but also 5,700 metres in altitude. This made it the queen stage of the Tour of Italy. Shortly after the start of the race, around ten riders broke away, including Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ). Meanwhile, Cofidis did the chasing work in order to bring Simon Geschke into the breakaway group and collect more mountain points. Until then, Geschke was in second place in the mountain classification behind Pogacar.
A large breakaway group forms
Shortly before the mountain classification at Colle San Zeno, a group of around 50 riders initiated by Geschke made the connection to the leading group. On the following descent, another six riders broke away to form another leading group - including Christian Scaroni and Davide Ballerini (both Astana Qazaqstan Team). The race situation then stabilised. There was still a large chasing group behind the six leading riders. Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates set the pace in the peloton.
The breakaway groups then flew apart on the Mortirolo climb. From then on, Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Chirstian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF - Faizane) were at the front, with around 15 riders behind them around Simon Geschke and Georg Steinhauser sucking up to the leading trio and making up ground on the subsequent descent.
As a result, the race entered the climb to Livigno, where more and more riders in the leading group started to have problems. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), among others, dropped back and played no role from then on.
Steinhauser attacked
With 21 kilometres to go, Steinhauser attacked from the now only eight-man breakaway group and distanced his rivals for the time being. While Nairo Quintana set off in pursuit behind him, the remaining six riders around Simon Geschke were unable to mount an attack.
When Quintana caught up with Steinhauser a little later and then overtook him, the Pogacar show began in the peloton: the Slovenian set off 14 kilometres into the race after his team-mates had worked ahead of him. None of his rivals in the peloton were able to follow Pogacar, who gradually passed all the riders. Two kilometres before the finish, he also overtook Quintana and then took the solo victory. The Colombian finished second, Steinhauser third.
