It looked like a good opportunity for a breakaway, especially when more than 50 riders found a gap over the peloton, but as threatened, it was another day for race leader Tadej Pogačar who put on a truly phenomenal performance with an attack 15 km from the finish. It was a staggering ride from the pink jersey who almost doubled his lead on the hardest stage of the 2024 Giro d’Italia.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took second from the breakaway, only caught two kilometres from the line, and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) held on for third, just ahead of the next GC riders on the road.
- The first chapter of stage 15’s odyssey dealt with the battle for KOM points. With outright leader Pogačar wearing pink, the blue jersey was being looked after by Simon Geschke (Cofidis) who sat on 59 points to Pogačar’s 104. On this longest and hardest stage of the Giro there was a whopping number of mountains points available, with the maximum possible for a single rider being 157, 90 of them going to the first rider to crest the last two Cat.1 climbs in the final 10 km of the stage.
- A ten-rider group broke away pretty early, comprising a combination of sprinters seeking a head start on the climbs and bona fide stage hunters, but Cofidis in particular was not happy, and it was partly the French squad’s determination that led to another large group splitting off the bunch and eating into the more than two-minute gap as the climbs began.
- Group 2 joined the original breakaway just before the top of the Colle san Zeno, making it a 58-strong mini peloton out front with Geschke able to contest the mountains points, but being out-sprinted by Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan).
- The valley road to the Mortirolo provided an opportunity for the peloton to trim the gap, UAE Team Emirates making use of their sprinter Juan Sebastián Molano on the front, as up ahead, six riders had eased away from the breakaway on the descent, including Scaroni and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
- Scaroni was able to hang onto a lead to the top of Mortirolo with only Pellizzari and Nicola Conci for company, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider having bridged the gap in the last kilometre, and by the foot of the penultimate climb of Passo di Foscagno, the lead group had swollen to 17 riders.
- What was left of the breakaway wasn’t working well together, though, and with the gap approaching three minutes, the young German Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) went on the attack.
- Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) was one of the first to respond, but only Nairo Quintana (Movistar) could make a convincing counter-move, taking his time to chip away at the German’s almost-60-second lead.
- In the pink jersey group, UAE Team Emirates was making a real show of strength, ever increasing the pressure on the GC contenders, Domen Novak giving way to Felix Großschartner, and finally unleashing Rafał Majka.
- Majka’s presence on the front might as well represent sending up a flare, warning the favourites of an impending attack. That move came with about 15 kilometres still to race, Pogačar accelerating like a ball from a cannon. Martínez darted out of the pack instinctively, but no one could follow the pink jersey.
- Quintana caught and soon passed Steinhauser four kilometres from the summit of the Passo di Foscagno.
- Pogačar meanwhile was taking huge chunks out of his rivals, his gap bouncing to a minute within a couple of kilometres, and as the GC group resigned itself to the race for second (again), it was Pogačar vs Quintana for the stage. Quintana’s advantage was around three minutes when the pink jersey attacked, but it was falling fast.
- The Colombian still had a lead of about 40 seconds on the penultimate summit with 9 km to go, but Pogačar was flying – he’d already taken an astonishing two and a half minutes out of his nearest rivals.
- The more or less inevitable catch came with 2 km to go, and Pogačar did not hang around before leaving the former Giro d’Italia champion in his wake.
- With Pogačar taking a victory that was about as emphatic and dominant as they come, Quintana and Steinhauser held on to join him on the stage podium. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was the next across the line having attacked the GC group about 10 km out, followed a few seconds later by an inseparable Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers).
- The pink jersey had almost doubled his lead in just 15 kilometres, increasing his advantage to 6:41. It was a word-defying performance that had the feeling of history as he climbed those last few kilometres surrounded by snow.
- Elsewhere in the GC competition fifth-place Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) had the “toughest day on the bike ever,” losing about a minute to his closest rivals, but holding fast in fifth behind Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) had a better day, sticking with teammate Thomas until the final kilometre and coming within 20 seconds of the top five, and the white jersey.
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GC Top 10 after stage 15
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Quotes of the day
“Everyone just let Pog go and do his thing, basically.”
Geraint Thomas, still second overall, said at the finish.
“It’s emotional, what can I say. It’s emotional. It’s a shame not to have finished first, but Pogačar was very strong, very solid, like we know. He said he was going to try for the stage and that’s what he did. The important thing was that we tried.”
Nairo Quintana told Colombian TV after finishing 29 seconds after Pogačar who’d passed him on the steep ramps near the summit.
Social highlights
A little while before his astonishing attack, Pogačar made a Slovenian fan’s day by handing over his gloves.
And then there was this frankly staggering shot, which photographer Léon van Bon assures us was not photoshopped.
A couple of days on from Julian Alaphilippe’s memorable stage win after spending almost all day with Mirco Maestri, yielding a beautiful moment at the finish and an emotional interview that evening, Alaphilippe made a special delivery to the Polti-Kometa team bus on Sunday morning.
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