Giro d'Italia - Stage 20: Pogacar with a ten-minute lead after sixth victory
Sebastian Lindner
· 25.05.2024
He waved, applauded, laughed and finally bowed on the finishing straight, which he rode freehand for the last 200 metres to complete his ceremony. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) flexed his muscles once again on Monte Grappa and took his sixth stage win at this year's Giro d'Italia after a 34-kilometre solo. On the penultimate 184-kilometre stage between Alpago and Bassano del Grappa, the 25-year-old held back for a long time before going on the offensive and - without having to push himself to the limit - gaining another two minutes on his rivals.
There were just over five kilometres to go on the way to the second summit finish on Monte Grappa when the Slovenian left the saddle and left the last four remaining riders at his side, including his last helper Rafal Majka. It wasn't long before he had also caught and passed the last breakaway rider Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizane). Pogacar rode the last kilometres of the climb and the descent without much effort.
Top 6 unchanged
At the finish, he had another two-minute lead over the chasing group, in which Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) sprinted to second place ahead of Daniel Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe). Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who was celebrating his 38th birthday, Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) also arrived at the same time and were thus able to defend their positions in the overall standings. In the meantime, O'Connor and Thomas were left behind, but everything came together again on the descent.
Martinez, who will presumably finish the Giro in second place, is 9:56 minutes behind Pogacar. The last time the gap between first and second was similar was in 2006, when Ivan Basso was 9:18 minutes ahead of Jose Gutierrez.
Geschke remains 14th and is better than ever
One Rubio (Movistar) made a leap in the overall standings by finishing in the first chasing group, displacing Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who was dropped early on, from seventh place. Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step) made up two places, overtaking both Bardet and Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlULa). The Italian thus slipped out of the top 10, which Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) took instead.
Simon Geschke (Cofidis) defended 14th place in the overall classification with a strong ride to the same place in the daily result. This is the 38-year-old's 19th and presumably last Grand Tour. So far, he has never finished a three-week national tour in the top 20.
Unlike Pogacar, who has finished on the podium every time in his five appearances in cycling's biggest tours. He will win one for the third time at the Giro. "Today was a good test for the summer," said Pogacar in an interview after his victory. "I wanted to finish the Giro with a good feeling, even if it wasn't necessary to win today. I've had the pink jersey since day two," he said, emphasising his dominance once again and added: "I'm going to enjoy a bit now and then prepare well. I've never been to Rome before, so I'm looking forward to it."
Giro d'Italia 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 20
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4:58:23
- Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:07
- Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:07
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:07
- One Rubio (Movistar) +2:07
- Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizane) +2:07
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:07
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:07
- Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +2:31
- Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) +3:08
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 76:22:13
- Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +9:56
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +10:24
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +12:07
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +12:49
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +14:31
- One Rubio (Movistar) +15:52
- Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step) +18:05
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +20:32
- Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +21:11
This is how the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2024 went
Once again, the 142 drivers remaining in the race had to start in the rain. But that didn't bother everyone. Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazqastan) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ) quickly went on the offensive and were joined by a chasing group of nine riders around the previous day's winner Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and runner-up Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar). Georg Steinhauser (EF Education EasyPost) in the blue jersey also tried to ride into the leading group at the beginning, but was unable to get through.
After a good 40 kilometres, the eleven at the front were around four minutes ahead of the peloton, which was led by UAE Emirates. It remained the maximum lead. A short time later, the sun came out. The lead remained constant until the first ascent of Monte Grappa at kilometre 106. However, the lead was then significantly reduced on the climb.
Pellizzarri takes the points at the first summit
Just like the size of the breakaway group. With five kilometres to go to the summit, Sanchez, Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizane) and Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) were already alone at the front. The situation was similar at the top - however, Tonelli's team-mate Pellizzari had ridden to the front from the peloton and secured the 40 points for the mountains jersey at the top. One minute later, the peloton of just 30 riders crossed the summit.
After the descent, Pellizzari and Sanchez, the two remaining riders, had a two and a half minute lead over the group of favourites. However, the Italian also shook off the Spaniard relatively quickly. And the group of favourites also thinned out considerably. With ten kilometres left on the climb, there were only 14 riders left. While Bardet also had to let go, Geschke was still able to hang on.
Things are coming together again behind Pogacar
Six kilometres before the summit, however, he also had to let go, but was in good company. O'Connor, Arensman and Thomas were also unable to follow, with only Tiberi, Martinez and Rubio staying with Pogacar before he took off 500 metres later. It took less than a kilometre for the Slovenian to bridge the gap of just under a minute to Pellizzarri and not much longer to leave the 20-year-old Italian behind. At the summit, he had a lead of just under two minutes on the group around Martinez.
Up to the counter-climb - 1500 metres at an average of ten per cent - Thomas and Co. had almost closed the gap to the first Pogacar chasers. But shortly before the descent, with 20 kilometres to go to the finish, Martinez stepped on the gas again and opened up the gap.
In the longer part of the descent, however, the two groups came together again, and O'Connor also rode with them again. The final bends were peaceful, while Pogacar lifted his bike after his 34-kilometre solo. Paret-Peintre won the sprint of the chasers ahead of Martinez.
