Giro d'Italia - Stage 7: Pogacar flies up the mountain and snatches victory from Ganna
Sebastian Lindner
· 10.05.2024
He delivered the next show: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was the last starter to hold off the superiority of Ineos Grenadiers to win the time trial on stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia 2024. It was the Slovenian's second stage win after his success on the Santuario di Oropa on the second day of the tour. After 34 of the 40.6 kilometres against the clock between Folignio and Perugia, Pogacar was still 47 seconds behind his closest rival Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
But then came the final climb up to the centre of the city, which featured double-digit gradients in places. Pogacar made up more than a minute on the Italian former world champion over the last 6.8 kilometres and won by 17 seconds. Magnus Sheffield finished third and Thymen Arensman (both Ineos Grenadiers) fourth. Behind him, Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) delivered a very strong performance and finished fifth.
Top 10 in the overall standings completely shaken up
The overall classification was shaken up by the time trial - apart from Pogacar, of course, who continues to ride in pink. The new runner-up is Boras Daniel Felipe Martinez, who also delivered a strong time trial by his standards and finished eighth on the day. In contrast to Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who conceded two minutes to Pogacar and thus just finished in the day's top 10. He is now third in the overall standings with a deficit of 2:46 minutes, ten seconds behind Martinez.
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has made a big leap forward and is now in the top ten in fourth place. Behind him is his Australian compatriot Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla), who has made up the most places and has also taken over the white jersey of the best young pro from Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Pogacar's first time trial since last year's World Championships is a complete success
It was Pogacar's first time trial since last year's World Championships. "I've been preparing for this for a long time and after a few ups and downs I'm happy that it went so well today," explained the 25-year-old in the winner's interview. "I took it a little easier at the start to get used to the time trial bike. But then I went full throttle on the climb," he said, describing his race. "I only got two split times and otherwise concentrated on myself. And then I knew that the climb suited me better than Pippo (Ganna), which was my advantage."
Giro d'Italia 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 7
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 51:44 minutes
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grandiers) +0:17
- Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:49
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:00
- Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:05
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +1:21
- Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) +1:45
- Daniel Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:49
- Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) +1:56
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:00
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 24:12:36
- Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:36
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:46
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +3:33
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +3:42
- Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +3:49
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) +3:50
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +4:11
- Filippo Zana (Team Jayo-AlUla) +4:41
- Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan) +4:44
How the 7th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2024 went
Julius van den Berg (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was the first pro to roll off the start ramp. However, he was not the first to finish. That was Ryan Mullen (Bora-Hansgrohe), who started directly after him, overtook him and set the first benchmark in 55:52 minutes. But the Irishman's time didn't last long, as Josef Cerny (Soudal - Quick Step) crossed the finish line shortly afterwards and knocked 1:02 minutes off his time - an average of 44.4 kilometres per hour.
It was Max Walscheid (Team Jayco-AlUla) who smashed Cerny's best time by a second, but had barely taken his place in the hot seat before he was ousted again by Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek). The Dutchman pushed the record to 54:16 minutes. But that didn't last too long either. Because then came Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar). The Italian U23 world champion against the clock pushed the time down by another 20 seconds. At the second split time, which was taken directly before the climb, he was still 24 seconds behind and only in fifth place.
Ganna pulverises everything
It then took some time before there was a new leader. It was Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates). The Dane had also organised his forces well, but he was not among the very best at the split times. He beat Milesi's time by 16 seconds. But then came Ganna. In one of the first corners, the former world champion was touched by a spectator who had hung too far over the barrier. But that didn't slow the Italian down. Ganna delivered an insane time of 52:01 minutes - an average of 46.8 km/h, one and a half minutes faster than Bjerg.
After that, there was a long wait. Nobody even came close to Ganna. His two team-mates, Sheffield and Arensman, completed an interim Ineos podium, with a strong Schachmann shortly behind them. And then the last two starters set off into the race.
Pogacar is unrivalled on the mountain
Both Thomas and Pogacar were already well behind at the first split time. Pogacar just made it into the top 10 at the first intermediate time measurement after 18.6 kilometres, 44 seconds behind Ganna, while Thomas was eight seconds further back. At the second measuring point directly before the final ascent after 34 kilometres, Pogacar was already third, at the same time as the second Arensman, as he had only gained three seconds from Ganna. Thomas also improved to tenth place, but was still slower than Walscheid, among others.
And so the question arose: Could Pogacar really make up 47 seconds over the last 6.8 kilometres? He even managed more than a minute. Thomas, on the other hand, struggled to just make it into the top 10, but was still able to keep most of his GC opponents behind him.
