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Giro stage 15 report: Pogačar stuns the competition on monstrous Queen Stage

Giro stage 15 report: Pogačar stuns the competition on monstrous Queen Stage

Tadej Pogačar now leads the Giro d'Italia by 6:41 with a week still to go.

Tadej Pogačar has been head and shoulders above the competition at the Giro d'Italia.

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.

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There's a good pedigree in this lad, Steinhauser comes from a cycling family that includes his uncle Jan Ullrich (though not by blood), whose name has come up almost as much as his nephew's this Giro thanks to Steinhauser Junior's multiple breakaway exploits.
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The forlorn race for second.
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I think he enjoyed that.
[race_result id=13 stage_id=79128 count=10 gc=0]

GC Top 10 after stage 15

[race_result id=13 stage_id=79128 count=10 gc=10]
Cat and mouse among mere mortals.

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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