Is the Giro already over? It is obviously much too early to say, but Pogacar’s acceleration 4.5 kilometers from the finish showed above all that there was him, and the others.
In any case, Tadej showed himself stronger than the others at the top of the mythical Sanctuary of Oropa, where 25 years earlier, Marco Pantani achieved one of the greatest feats of the Tour of Italy (before being ultimately disqualified). By gaining around thirty seconds on his competitors, more than a minute on Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS), winner yesterday during the first stage, he seizes the leader’s pink jersey.
Even if we could have feared the worst with a fall 11 kilometers from the finish, ultimately without consequences, he left almost no crumbs for the competition.
Giro: Tadej Pogacar falls just before the final climb and narrowly avoids being run over by his car
Behind, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) was part of the group of around ten outsiders in the hunt, with Martinez, Thomas, and the Spaniard Juanpe Lopez (Lidl-Trek), among others. The group arrived at about thirty seconds. Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Frenchman Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) were in another group of latecomers.
After the first two stages which gave pride of place to punchers and climbers, the sprinters could again be left behind on Monday, on the 3rd stage. The relatively simple route, 166 kilometers from Novara to Fossano, will end with a 1.8 kilometer wall at 4.2%. After this, there will be less than three kilometers to go.
