Giro d'Italia 2023 Overall Classification | Primoz Roglic confirms maiden Giro d'Italia win, fourth Grand Tour title

After a whole month and spring of ups and downs, Primoz Roglic has won the Giro d'Italia. This was a win in the making since his abandon the Vuelta a Espana last summer, and is an achievement that marks the career of the Jumbo-Visma rider.

Roglic pursued the overall classification at the Vuelta a Espana last year, battling with Remco Evenepoel until he crashed out in the final week when attacking the red jersey. He then took several months off the bike as he recovered from his injuries, and then a surgery to prevent further shoulder dislocations. As the winter deepened and Giro route was revealed, a battle between Roglic and Evenepoel was certain to be the main focus of attention once again.

The Slovenian started his season only at Tirreno-Adriatico, but has won three stages and the overall classification. He then raced the Volta a Catalunya where he narrowly beat Remco Evenepoel, further hyping up what was expected to be the battle for the Giro. He prepared with training only towards the race, having a modest start losing almost a minute to Evenepoel on the opening time-trial of the race.

Jumbo-Visma and Roglic's participation in the race itself seemed complicated, as the days leading up to the race saw 3 of it's riders testing positive for Covid-19. The outbreak, and then subsequent outbreak present in the race - alongside the many crashes and unrelated illnesses that caused havoc in the race - were all a risk, but Roglic survived the obstacles.

However with the conservative start, Roglic was able to build form. Stages 4 and 7 saw no moves, and the GC fight in the climbs kicked off at stage 8 when he attacked and arrived to the finish together with Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas. He'd lose time to the duo on the time-trial on stage 9, however with the abandon of Remco Evenepoel (and later Hart) his chances improved, as he now faced Thomas and also João Almeida.

The trio were inseparable in the second week, but Roglic has sustained crashed that also saw him take on stitches to a knee. The third week started with a negative result as he lost time to the duo at Monte Bondone and fell to third in the overall classification. It would be in the two final days in the mountains - stages 18 and 19 - where he'd distance João Almeida, but gained only 3 seconds on Geraint Thomas who remained in pink, 26 seconds ahead of Roglic.

Only in the final time-trial, close to the Slovenian border, did Roglic ride into pink, with a massive ride up Monte Lussari which, despite suffering a mechanical, saw him win the stage and take enough time to displace Geraint Thomas. After winning the Vuelta a Espana in 2019, 2020 and 2021, he now wins his first Giro d'Italia, one that seems to have made up for the heartbreak suffered at the 2020 Tour de France...

1 SLO ROGLIC Primoz Jumbo-Visma 85:29:02

2 GBR THOMAS Geraint INEOS Grenadiers + 14

3 POR ALMEIDA Joao UAE Team Emirates + 01:15

4 ITA CARUSO Damiano Bahrain Victorious + 04:40

5 FRA PINOT Thibaut Groupama-FDJ + 05:43

6 NED ARENSMAN Thymen INEOS Grenadiers + 06:05

7 IRL DUNBAR Edward Team Jayco-AlUla + 07:30

8 NOR LEKNESSUND Andreas Team DSM + 07:31

9 GER KÄMNA Lennard BORA-hansgrohe + 07:46

10 BEL DE PLUS Laurens INEOS Grenadiers + 09:08

11 COL RUBIO Einer Movistar Team + 10:43

12 BEL VAN WILDER Ilan Soudal Quick-Step + 11:58

13 COL BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain Victorious + 12:21

14 USA KUSS Sepp Jumbo-Visma + 13:09

15 FRA PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien AG2R Citroën Team + 14:13