This is why we can’t have nice things. Tadej Pogačar triumphed over 2014 champion Nairo Quintana, securing his fourth victory in an incredible demonstration of power on Sunday. And someone flagged it on Strava.
Pogačar dominated his GC rivals and now holds a commanding lead of 6:41 over Geraint Thomas with a week remaining.
The riders tackled 5400 m of vertical gain, starting with a gentle grade right from the start. Following the initial Cat. 3 climb was the challenging Cat. 2 Colle San Zeno. After an 18-km descent from San Zeno, the road ascended gradually leading to the infamous Cat. 1 Mortirolo, a 12.6-km climb at 7.7 perc ent, peaking at 16 per cent. The climb continued right after the descent, becoming even steeper. The demanding 222-km day concluded with the Cat. 1 Passo di Foscagno, a brief descent, and finally the Mottolino, 4.7 km at 7.7 per cent with grades reaching up to 19 per cent.
It was a long grind to the base of the penultimate climb, the Passo di Foscagno. The Julien Alaphilippe-Quintana group dwindled and fractured along the way, holding just over a 3:00 advantage as they approached the day’s second Cat. 1 climb.
Georg Steinhauser made a decisive solo move, with Attila Valter in closest pursuit while the rest of the group splintered. The EF Education-Easypost rider opened up a minute’s lead before Quintana launched an effort to bridge the gap. With 14 km remaining, it appeared the stage winner would emerge from the breakaway.
Rafal Majka set a strong pace before Tadej Pogačar launched his attack.
Quintana caught up to Steinhauser and quickly left him behind. The pink jersey, Tadej Pogačar, was closing in on the Colombian. With 12 km remaining, the Slovenian held a one-minute lead over his GC rivals. Romain Bardet broke away from the GC group as Pogačar overtook Steinhauser.
Quintana crested Passo di Foscagno and began the short descent with a 38-second lead. The final showdown would unfold on Mottolino.
Pogačar caught up to and overtook Quintana with just under 2 km to go.
Pogi’s day of racing was 6:11:41 for the 220 km, and his caption read: “Who TF flagged me?”
Funnily enough, it’s not the first time someone has done it to the Slovenian.
When he won the 2023 Tour of Flanders, his KOM up the Oude Kwaremont was also reported. Pogi smashed the record by 11 seconds.
You can watch the Giro on FloBikes.com
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