Tadej Pogacar poised to win Giro d'Italia after victory on stage 20

Bassano del Grappa [Italy], May 26 : Barring incident or accident, Tadej Pogacar will win the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. The Slovenian dominated in the mountains again to decimate his rivals, overhauling lone leader Giulio Pellizzari on the second of two ascents of Monte Grappa before charging away to the finish in Bassano del Grappa. Dani Martinez finished second for a first Grand Tour podium, with Geraint Thomas holding on for third.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) is poised to win the Giro d'Italia by an astonishing margin after putting on another clinic in the mountains to take his sixth victory on Stage 20.

With Sunday's final stage a procession around Rome, only disaster can prevent Pogacar from winning the maglia rosa on debut after he extended his lead in the general classification to almost 10 minutes.

Last year's runner-up Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) will have to settle for third overall after flagging on the final climb, with former team-mate Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) hanging tough to stay second behind the runaway Slovenian.

After his 125km lap of honour in the Italian capital, Pogacar will turn his attention to completing a rare Giro-Tour de France double, last achieved in 1998 by Marco Pantani.

Big question marks hang over all of his expected big rivals in France, with two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) suffering multiple fractures in a crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April that also wiped out Tour hopefuls Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The Tour starts on June 29 in Florence - just 35 days after the Giro wraps up.

Pellizzari takes fight to Pogacar

Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), the youngest rider in the race and the great promise of Italian cycling, took the fight to Pogacar in the mountains to hint at a thrilling finale.

The 20-year-old attacked out of the peloton on the first of two ascents of Monte Grappa with 80km remaining, scooping up the three leaders - Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar) and team-mate Alessandro Tonelli - before the summit.

A daring descent followed, which saw four become three as Janssens disappeared, as the leaders arrived at the foot of a mountain steeped in history with around 2'30" on the remnants of the peloton.

Then Pellizzari took off. The Italian, who earned Pogacar's pink jersey and sunglasses as a consolation prize after being pipped to victory on the snow-shortened Stage 16, ripped up the mountain with such vigour that, back down the road, Pogacar was soon spotted pulling alongside his UAE comrades to demand a harder tempo.

Pogacar got his wish and when Rafal Majka took over domestique duties at the front, the gap started to come down quickly, while behind Thomas was starting to feel the heat and fell back slightly.

With a little over 5km to the summit of Monte Grappa, and 36km to the finish in Bassano del Grappa, Pogacar blasted away. Ridiculously, he was alongside Pellizzari just 600 metres later and, after briefly dragging the young phenom along for the ride, soon set off alone in pursuit of a sixth victory in just 20 stages.

From that moment on, the biggest obstacle to Pogacar was spectators with main-character syndrome. One gave him a push, prompting an angry gesture from the 25-year-old, while another sent a pink flare smog across his path. But there was to be no stopping him as he dodged the revved-up selfie hunters to crest the final climb with almost two minutes on the flagging chasers.

As Pogacar attacked the descent, former Vuelta a Espana winner and two-time Paris-Roubaix champion Sean Kelly was asked on Eurosport commentary if he had ever seen a rider like Pogacar: "Never... He has got everything."

Pogacar even found time to take a bidon, then give it immediately to a young fan running alongside him, as he closed on his latest awesome win. Had he attacked through the final kilometre, rather than applaud the fans and bow across the line, he would surely be taking a lead of over 10 minutes to Rome, rather than the 9'56" advantage he holds over Martinez.

"We took no risks on the descent. I had good legs and a good gap at the top [of the second ascent of Monte Grappa] which meant I did not have to take risks on the downhill," Pogacar said afterwards.

"We had the pink jersey from Stage 2, and today was another test before the summer to see how it is. I wanted to finish the Giro with a good mentality and in good shape. I think I achieved that."

Catch all the action from Cycling World Tour 2024 - Giro d Italia - Stage 21 - Roma - live on Eurosport from 20:45 Hrs (8:45 pm IST) onwards on Sunday.

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