Giro d’Italia Stage 15: Pogačar Saves Something Special for the Queen Stage

Tadej Pogačar of Team UAE Emirates transformed his rampage through the Giro d’Italia into something special on today’s stage 15 with yet another solo stage win, doubling his overall lead. Pogačar seemed content for a while to allow a strong group of stage-hunting climbers to contest the race for much of the Passo di Foscagno, with former winner Nairo Quintana of Movistar and debutante Georg Steinhauser of EF Education battling for the stage victory, with a three minute cushion over the GC group. But the Maglia Rosa had bigger plans for the day, deciding before the summit to leave his rivals well behind, and passing Quintana for the stage halfway up the final 4km rise to Mottolino. He would end up 29 seconds ahead of Quintana, who had played his cards perfectly to take a glorious stage, but for the presence of the Slovenian shooting star.

The stage victory was the fourth of the race for Pogačar and put nearly three more minutes into second-placed Geraint Thomas of INEOS, now 6.41 back as the Giro reaches its second rest day in Livigno, nestled into a corner of Swiss-Italy. Dani Martinez of BORA and Ben O’Connor of Decathlon-AG2R are within a minute of Thomas, last year’s runner-up, in what promises to be a tight battle for the podium. But the victory seems sewn up.

Steinhauser was something of a revelation on the stage, the 22-year-old son of former racer Tobias (and nephew of Jan Ullrich) launching an excellent attack to get clear of the day’s breakaway on the Passo di Foscagno. Only a rider of Quintana’s pedigree could reel him back in after the young German put a minute into the rest, and he ended up third on the day clear of many notable climbers like Romain Bardet. For his efforts he will start stage 16 Tuesday in the White Jersey as the best young rider, as unconfirmed results suggest that overnight leader Antonio Tiberi lost 20 minutes on the stage.

Stage Results:

1. POGAČAR Tadej, UAE Team Emirates, 6:11:43
2. QUINTANA Nairo, Movistar Team, at 0:29
3. STEINHAUSER Georg, EF Education – EasyPost, at 2:32
4. BARDET Romain, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, at 2:47
5. MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe, BORA – hansgrohe, at 2:50
6. THOMAS Geraint, INEOS Grenadiers, s.t.
7. RUBIO Einer, Movistar Team, at 2:58
8. O’CONNOR Ben, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, s.t.
9. ARENSMAN Thymen, INEOS Grenadiers, at 3:05
10. HIRT Jan, Soudal Quick-Step, at 3:20
11. ZANA Filippo, Team Jayco AlUla, at 3:35

GC

1. POGAČAR Tadej, UAE Team Emirates, 56:11:46
2. THOMAS Geraint, INEOS Grenadiers, at…