Tadej Pogačar wins first race in world champion’s jersey

Debuting his rainbow jersey, Tadej Pogačar won Saturday’s 1.Pro-rated Giro dell’Emilia, one of Italian warm-up races for next Saturday’s Il Lombardia, the Race of the Falling Leaves. In a classic Pog move, the Slovenian went solo with 38 km remaining. Michael Woods finished just off the podium. It was his fifth Giro dell’Emilia top-5; Rusty was fifth last season, third in 2021, runner-up in 2019 and fourth in 2018.

The Course

Measuring 215.3 km from Vignola to San Luca in Bologna, the 107th edition featured three climbs before the circuits, the last one the most likely to elicit attacks due to its 9.1 percent average pitch. Although the 9.2-km circuit was taken four times, the 2.1-km, 9.6-percent San Luca climb was ascended five times, with the finish at its peak. It was a wet day.

Giro dell’Emilia 2024
🚩 Vignola
🏁 Bologna – San Luca
🚴🏻‍♂️ 215 Km
Weather: 🌧 11°C, light rain
Route: https://t.co/RLao7tR37t pic.twitter.com/hmZfSRfMF1

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) October 5, 2024

Tadej Pogačar was there for his first race as world champion clad in the rainbow jersey and even wearing a rainbow casquette.

It didn’t take long for a breakaway to form, a sextet that eventually became a quintet and crested Casa Giorgio Morandi with a 2:45 gap.

With the men’s race at the 80 km to go mark, Elisa Longo Borghini, off to UAE-Team ADQ next year, won the women’s edition.

After UAE-Emirates had done much of the pace making early in the race, Ineos, Soudal-QuickStep, EF Education-Easypost and Bahrain-Victorious began to toil before the Montechiaro climb. Lidl-Trek became interested on the climb itself. By the peak, there were only three fugitives left and they were 1:20 clear. The catch came with 46 km to race.

San Luca I Remco Evenepoel led on the first passage with Pogačar on his wheel. Surprise! Pogačar attacked.

Matteo Jorgenson was closest to the world champion on Lap 1, and he received plenty of reinforcements. Pog hit San Luca II with a 35-second buffer. Woods was near the front of the 40-strong chase group as it went over the top. With 25 km to go, the difference was 1:09. By the finish of San Luca III, the man in the rainbow stripes was two minutes ahead of the Woods-Jorgenson-Roglič chase, with Roglič’s teammate Florian Lipowitz in between.