After having dominated the Giro d’Italia from start to finish, Tadej Pogačar sealed his overall victory at the race with an incredible solo victory on the penultimate stage. The UAE Team Emirates rider launched a decisive attack on the second and final ascent of the Monte Grappa, going over the top of the climb and holding his advantage on the descent to win the stage.
UAE Team Emirates paced for the whole stage, as they have done for most of this year’s race, whittling down the group on the two ascents of the Monte Grappa before Rafał Majka came to the front to launch the Slovenian for his inevitable attack. He would catch Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), who had attacked and bridged across to the breakaway on the first ascent of the climb, quickly dispatching of the Italian to go solo until the finish in Bassano del Grappa.
In the group of GC contenders behind, they could only watch as Pogačar danced away from them with around 36km to go. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) attempted to distance the rest of the group in order to secure his second place finish in the overall standings. By the time that they reached the finish though, all of the top-5 were in the same group and finished on the same time.
HOW IT HAPPENED
There were attacks from when the flag was dropped at the start of the stage, with Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ) going clear at the front of the race in the opening 10km of the stage.
They went over the top of the first categorised climb of the day and were then joined by a ten-man chasing group that comprised of Nicola Conci and Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Henok Mulubrhan (Astana Qazaqstan), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Rubén Fernández (Cofidis), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa), making it a twelve-man group at the head of the race with around 140km to go.
They worked well together to build a gap over the following kilometres, but were never allowed more than four minutes of an advantage by UAE Team Emirates, who were setting the pace in the peloton. It was clear from his comments before the stage that Tadej Pogačar wanted to win his sixth stage of the race and his team were keeping the breakaway on a tight leash.
After a rainy start to the stage, the sunshine came out before the start of the first ascent of the Monte Grappa. The breakaway began to fracture on the lower slopes, with Janssens, Mulubrhan and Sánchez distancing the others. Theuns, Ballerini, Pietrobon, Conci and Germani would not see the front of the race again, whilst Vendrame, Tonelli and Fernández were able to ride themselves back on as the climb progressed.
Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) then launched an attack from the peloton with around 80km to go in an attempt to chase down the breakaway. A couple of kilometres later he caught the breakaway, which now consisted of Tonelli, Janssens and Sánchez, over the top of the climb and they worked well together to extend their gap on the peloton behind.
Janssens was then dropped on the descent and as they hit the foot of the Monte Grappa for the second time, Tonelli called it a day as well after having done a lot of work for his young teammate Pellizzari. The 20-year-old Italian then went solo with 15km to go on the climb, as Sánchez was no longer able to follow him.
The gap to the sole leader was coming down quickly though, as UAE Team Emirates had the likes of Mikkel Bjerg, Felix Großschartner and Domen Novak pacing on the climb. When Rafał Majka came to the front to launch Pogačar’s inevitable attack, Pellizzari’s advantage sat at under two minutes. The Polish rider continued to whittle down the advantage and even caused a split in the group of GC contenders before Pogačar made his decisive move.
It was not long before Pellizzari was in sight for the Slovenian and he caught him around 5km from the summit of the climb. Pogačar initially encouraged Pellizzari to follow him in order for them to work together, but the Italian was soon dropped under the pace of the Maglia Rosa, who was on a mission to win yet another stage of the race.
In the group behind, Daniel Felipe Martínez was attempting to secure his second place finish in the overall standings by extending his advantage over Geraint Thomas, who had been distanced under the pace of Majka. The Colombian had Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) for company, whilst Thomas was in a group with Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who was supported by his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre.
On the descent, Pogačar maintained his advantage on those behind, which sat at around two minutes, whilst the two chasing groups merged together to form an eight-man group behind with around 11km to go on the final section of downhill before the finish.
Pogačar arrived solo at the finish to take another emphatic victory and cement his performance at this year’s Giro d’Italia as one of the most dominant displays that we have seen at a Grand Tour for several years, with a margin of victory of nearly ten minutes in the general classification.
In the chasing group, Paret-Peintre won the sprint for second place to secure Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s victory in the teams classification, whilst Martínez finished third and took some rather inconsequential bonus seconds to extend his advantage over Thomas. Tiberi also finished safely in the group to secure fifth overall and the Maglia Bianca in his first participation in the Giro d’Italia.
RESULTS: GIRO D’ITALIA 2024, STAGE 20, ALPAGO > BASSANO DEL GRAPPA (184KM)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 4:58:23
2. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:07
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
5. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
7. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, all at same time
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:31
10. Rafał Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates, +3:08
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 20
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 76:22:13
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +9:56
3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +10:24
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +12:07
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +12:49
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +14:31
7. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +15:52
8. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +18:05
9. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +20:32
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +21:11
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