There’s a song playing in my head: “Don’t stop me now. I’m having such a good time, I’m having a ball …”
Anyway. Stage 20 of the Giro? Yeah, Pogačar won. Again. It was his sixth stage victory of the race, sealing the pink jersey by a margin of just under 10 minutes.
I am a satellite, I’m out of control … “
- The 11-man breakaway established earlier in the day began to disintegrate on the lower slopes of the Monte Grappa, on the first visit to the mighty mountain just inside the last 100 km. Meanwhile, about four minutes behind the leaders, UAE Team Emirates hit the foot at speed to deter and isolate their rivals and control the gap.
- About half an hour later and with just three survivors from the breakaway left out front, including VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè teammate Alessandro Tonelli, Giulio Pellizzari shot out of the peloton a few kilometres from the summit. The 20-year-old – the youngest rider in the race – had a minute to close and a few riders to use as stepping stones, ultimately joining the leaders just a couple hundred metres from the crest, where he nabbed maximum points.
- There were 40 on offer at both summits of Monte Grappa, which wouldn’t be enough for the young Italian to take over the blue jersey from Pogačar – in fact, after that first crest, the Slovenian’s victory in the mountains classification was mathematically secured – but by taking second off Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Pellizzari earned himself the loan of a Grand Tour leader’s jersey, and with that a front row start on stage 21, alongside his cycling hero.
- Pellizzari stayed with the leaders on the descent and by the foot of the Monte Grappa for the second time, he and his remaining companions, Tonelli and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), had stretched their lead to around 2:30.
- Tonelli’s job was done at the base of the climb, and before long Sánchez lost touch, leaving Pellizzari solo with 46.5 kilometres to go, almost 18 of them up the first-category climb, UAE still controlling the pace in the peloton.
- Vegard Stake Laengen and Mikkel Bjerg were still present on the lower slopes, their efforts even managing to distance mountain goat and demon descender Nairo Quintana (Movistar), and 11th-overall Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana-Qazaqstan). It was then the turn of Felix Großschartner, at which point there were only 16 riders left in the peloton/GC group, of which a quarter were UAE riders. Domen Novak was next, then Rafał Majka began his effort 6.5 km from the top of the climb, a little over 37 km from the finish line – sending up a flare in the process; an attack from the pink jersey was imminent.
- When Majka took over, Pellizzari had a one-minute-20-second lead, and within 500 metres, the Polish super-domestique had blown up the GC group, leaving just Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), Antonio Tibero (Bahrain-Victorious) and Einer Rubio (Movistar) with the race leader.
- Then Pogačar attacked. 36 km to go. 5 km to the top of the climb. 48 seconds from Pellizzari.
- It took him less than a kilometre to hook up with the young Italian, and for a few brief moments, it looked like, just maybe, they’d stay together – echoes of Pogačar’s comments after stage 16: “I really admire him in this Giro already … he’s going really strong and maybe he can win a stage this week.” – but the young pretender was dropped after little over 1,500 metres.
- After splintering in the last few kilometres of the Monte Grappa ascent, much of the GC group, minus the pink jersey, obviously, reformed by the bottom of the descent, meaning at least positions 1 thru 5 (at least) remained intact, and Tiberi just had to stay upright to seal the white jersey with Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) over a minute behind.
- A little over two minutes after Pogačar enjoyed his final bow, Valentin Paret-Peintre led home the GC group with Dani Martínez finishing third. Those last four bonus seconds ensured Pogačar’s lead would remain under the 10-minute mark, also sealing second overall, the Colombian’s first ever Grand Tour podium finish.
- Despite losing 1:20 to his rivals, Arensman was able to hold on to sixth overall, but there was a little movement lower down the standings. Rubio moves up to seventh having come into his own in the high mountains, taking the place of Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich PostNL) who had another jour sans, losing almost eight minutes and slipping to ninth, just behind Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) who gains two places after a solid Giro. Finally, Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) showed yet again that he’s one to watch deep in a stage race, finishing ninth on the stage and moving up to 10th overall, the best Grand Tour GC result of his career and a great debut for his team.
- The gap between Pogačar and Storer? 21 minutes and 11 seconds.
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Quotes of the day:
“This was a good test for the summer.”
Pogačar said after his sixth stage victory, looking ahead to the Tour de France where he hopes to win a third yellow jersey despite his unconventional run-up.
Geraint Thomas was one of four riders in the Giro peloton celebrating his birthday on stage 20, and for the now-38-year-old Welshman it was a tough day out that saw him lose touch on the Monte Grappa while Majka was on the front, about to launch Pogačar’s attack. Mercifully for Thomas, the gap between he and the riders Pogačar left behind was not huge, and Thomas had the company of both Ben O’Connor and Decathlon-AG2R super-domestique Valentin Paret-Peintre, who were determined to regain contact and cement the Australian’s fourth-place finish at the end of a tough final week.
“Everyone’s always gone on about my age for quite a while now, and I’ve never really seen the fuss. But now I’m 38 and pretty old for a professional cyclist. I’m feeling every one of my 38 years now.”
Thomas went on to add:
“I’d bet a lot of money that Pogačar won’t be racing when he’s 38, so at least I’ve got that on him. He’s the best I’ve raced with and I’ve raced with a lot of good guys. He’s so versatile and aggressive all year round as well. It’s not just like me, for a couple of months a year where you’re good. It’s insane how talented he is.”
Brief analysis
- Despite early criticism of the so-called ‘B’ team – which in hindsight, at least yours truly will admit to being a desperate hunt for any sign of weakness on their part – UAE Team Emirates showed not for the first time that they were the strongest GC team at the Giro, and on stage 20’s fatal blow, their margin was pretty cavernous. With the understandable absence of Juan Sebastián Molano and henchman Rui Oliveira who look to tomorrow’s finale, all six of the remaining riders were instrumental in setting up Pogačar’s history-making final bow. Even Vegard Stake Laengen, who was dropped near the top of the first ascent of Monte Grappa, was back in the game by the second attempt, joining a revitalised Mikkel Bjerg in a broadside beating of the competition. While there have been occasions when one or several of them have gone AWOL, everything fell into place on stage 20, and they got the job done.
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