Ineos Grenadiers prove to be "the best of the humans" while Tadej Pogacar surges to a dominant victory
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar openly declared he wanted to win ahead of the queen stage of this Giro d'Italia, but the gap to breakaway wasn't going under three minutes for a long time. Sounds like a mission impossible? Well, not for the Slovenian who not only caught all the escapees but also dealt a fatal blow to his GC opponents with nearest opponents losing up to three minutes.
Behind the maglia rosa, a battle for second place was in a full speed, with Ineos Grenadiers Thymen Arensman pushing the pace for leader Geraint Thomas. And the Dutchman did his job so well that only third place Daniel Martínez managed to match the speed. In the final meters, Arensman lost some time, but Ineos still showed their strength, albeit they didn't even remotely endanger Pogacar's control over the situation.
"Tadej once again showed that he’s on another level but Geraint and Thymen showed that they are up there with the best of the humans," Ineos sports director Dario Cioni told GCN.
As the situation stands, the battle for overall victory appears to be well over with Tadej Pogacar holding a comfortable lead of 6:41 ahead of Thomas. Third place Martínez is another 15 seconds further. Arensman continues his path of improvement and reduces his gap to less than 20 seconds to fifth place Antonio Tiberi. The two will also likely decided among themselves who takes the White jersey.
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"With Geraint we know that he’s a man with a lot of experience and he knows how to manage these repeated efforts on different days. He had a good time trial and gained some time and today he only lost time to Pogačar but there’s only so much we can do against him," was Cioni’s assessment.
"Today was the start of a new Giro, the real climbing Giro," Cioni said. "We’ve had two climbing stages before today but this was one of the longest and hardest climbing stages but there are a few others and for the podium the battle is still open."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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What goes up must come down… G’s just not sure how 🚠🤣 #GirodItalia
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