Tadej Pogacar wins Giro d’Italia on debut by biggest margin since 1965

Rome — Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar emphatically won the Giro d’Italia on his debut when he retained his unassailable overall lead after Sunday’s 21st and final stage in Rome, winning by the biggest overall margin since 1965.

The 25-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider had been in the leader’s pink jersey since winning stage two, the first of his six stage successes, and finished Sunday’s ceremonial 125km flat run safely in the bunch as Tim Merlier won the stage.

Merlier (Soudal–Quick-Step) outsprinted Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) as the Belgian won his third stage. Milan had made his way back to the front for the bunch sprint after crashing on the last lap around the Eternal City.

Milan, winner of three stages, won the points classification, ahead of Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who finished third in the final stage.

Pogacar finished 9 min 56 sec ahead of Colombia’s Daniel Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe), with 2023’s runner-up Geraint Thomas of Wales (Ineos Grenadiers) a further 28 sec behind in third in the overall standings.

He adds the Giro title to his two Tour de France triumphs in 2020 and 2021, and did it in style, proving exactly why he had been the prerace favourite as no-one came even close to challenging once Pogacar laid down an early marker on day two.

The 2023 winner and fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic was absent from the race with Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, but nothing can take away from Pogacar’s domination in Italy, and he will now aim for the Tour de France.

Pogacar really took control on stage seven by winning the individual time trial ahead of Filippo Ganna, stretching his lead to over 2½min, and followed that by winning the next stage.

Ganna gained revenge in the next time trial but Pogacar still extended the gap to his rivals when finishing second, and by stage 15 it was all but over when the Slovenian won his fourth stage and put an extra 3 min between himself and Thomas.

Pogacar won the weather-hit next stage and showed no mercy on the penultimate day when going solo to take his sixth stage to cement his grip on the maglia rosa, with an overall lead not seen in almost 60 years at the Giro.

The Slovenian also won the mountains classification and Pogacar could relax on the final day and enjoy his first ride around the streets of the Italian capital safe in the knowledge he was the Giro winner without a shadow of a doubt.

Reuters