Primoz Roglic has become the first Slovenian to win the Giro d'Italia. As expected, the 33-year-old was not to be denied his triumph on the final stage to Rome on Sunday, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Britain's Geraint Thomas.
Portugal's Joao Almeida finished third, 1:15 minutes behind. Lennard Kämna from Bremen, who rode a major national tour for the first time in the overall classification, needed 7:46 minutes more than Roglic for the total of around 3450 kilometres and finished ninth.
The 126-kilometre final stage with start and finish in Rome was a sprinter's affair. Former world champion Mark Cavendish, who had announced during the Giro that he would be retiring at the end of the season, came out on top. Pascal Ackermann was robbed of any chance of his second stage win by a crash around 100 metres before the finish.
Germans with successes
From a German perspective, it was ultimately a successful Giro. Kämna was only the seventh German to make it into the top ten overall. Nico Denz surprisingly celebrated two stage wins, while Pascal Ackermann also achieved a long-awaited success. The Palatinate rider also sprinted into the top ten three more times. Marius Mayrhofer, who is only 22 years old, also achieved four places in the top ten.
Roglic had only secured the leader's pink jersey on the penultimate stage. In a mountain time trial near his home country of all places, the veteran made up a 26-second gap on Thomas. Three years ago, Roglic went into the mountain time trial to Planche des Belle Filles on the penultimate day of the Tour de France as the overall leader and was ultimately unable to maintain a lead of 57 seconds over his compatriot Tadej Pogacar.
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