Tadej Pogacar stunned his opponents on the 15th stage of the Giro. The longest and most difficult race of this Tour of Italy. Starting 13 kilometers from the finish, the Slovenian attacked the breakaways of the day before dropping Quintana on the last climb. The pink jersey of this Giro takes almost 3 minutes from Geraint Thomas and Martinez and takes a little further advantage in the general classification.
In demonstration, Tadej Pogacar won the 15th stage of the Tour of Italy at the top of Mottolino in Livigno, this Sunday, over 222 km starting from Manerba del Garda.
By attacking 14 km from the finish in the penultimate difficulty of the day, the Slovenian flew over the queen stage to win alone and further consolidate his pink jersey as overall leader.
This is his 4th partial victory in this Giro. Euphoric, Pogacar now has 74 successes to his name and is also almost 7 minutes ahead overall over his runner-up, the Briton Geraint Thomas, 2nd at 6:51.
Hostilities began on the first of the day’s five climbs with a group of 12 including Bert Van Lerberghe (Soudal Quick-Step). A group of around thirty runners then had a lead of almost 5 minutes over the pink jersey peloton.
After the third difficulty of the day, 18 riders, including the Frenchman Julien Alaphilippe and Mauri Vansevenant for Soudal Quick-Step, found themselves in the lead and were chased by a peloton eating up their delay.
The German Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked 22.2 km from the finish in the Passo di Foscagno (cat.1/6.3%/14.6km). The Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) followed suit, but at a good distance.
In the peloton of favorites, Pogacar attacked 5km from the top of Passo di Foscagno, 14km from the finish. In the final climb to Mottolino (cat.1/7.7%/4.6 km), the Slovenian came back on all the escapees, dropping the last one, Quintana, 2000m from the finish.
The Colombian finished 2nd at 30 seconds. Steinhauser is 3rd. The riders are entitled to a day of rest on Monday, the second of this 2024 edition of the Tour of Italy which ends on Sunday in Rome.
Giro Pogacar stage 15
