No easing down and no calm. Tadej Pogacar has won the Giro dell'Emilia, his first race as the new World Champion and rainbow jersey; and has done so in style has he attacked right on the first climb of the final circuit and won with no less than minutes over second place.
Benjamin Thomas, Roberto Carlos González, Ander Ganzabal, Alessio Martinelli and José Ramón Muñiz formed the day's breakaway but this was not one that would survive long. Before entering the final circuit, Lidl-Trek has made the race quite hard and the group was caught with 47 kilometers to go.
Into the final circuit the pace was high, and right at the base of the first ascent Remco Evenepoel attacked. An Astana rider then made a small move followed by Tadej Pogacar and Matteo Jorgenson, and seeing that no-one else tried to follow, the rainbow jersey moved off the front and got the winning gap. The race for the win was over as the UAE Team Emirates rider would quickly build a very large gap, and behind only second place was available.
Evenepoel abandoned the race in very poor weather conditions; whilst Florian Lipowitz attacked one lap later to get an important gap that also grew as the group lacked organization. Pogacar rode to the finish comfortably, riding the circuit at his own pace and taking win number 24 of what is by many called the most successful season of a pro cyclist ever.
Lipowitz' move proved unsuccessful in the final ascent, with Davide Piganzoli proving to be a big surprise as he attacked. The Italian rider then finished third on the day; whilst Tom Pidcock managed to follow his attack and then sprinting to second place.
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I wish the cycling press would stop asking old man Merckx how Pogacar compares. Merckx is irrelevant to modern cycling.
Did anyone hear why Remco didn't finish? Just weather? Or was he afraid of something else?
'Cuz he was humiliated leading on the first ascent and then fading knowing he had fired his one bullet in the chamber.
Remco behavior was very strange... after his attack, one of my friends has seen him abandoning with 4 minutes delay... and crying. I asked: "are you sure? maybe it was the rain", "no no no, he was crying". I don't know.
That makes sense. he abandoned because he got something in his eye.
"humiliate" is a perjorative term that is not appropriate in this context. Please use a different word.
He humiliated no one. Yes they were well beaten but it is condescending to say they were humiliated.
He came, he saw , he conquered and the rest settled for 2nd
Nothing that Pog does should surprise anyone anymore - especially his rivals.
He didn't humiliate the rest. If he raced all oxut to the finish, then it would be a humiliation because the gap would probably be above 4 minutes
I started watching the race in the last 12k. Tadej demolished them and in bad conditions to boot!
Astonishing, yet not surprising, once again. Both the attack and abandonment by Evenepoel were surprising, and it was nice to see Pidcock like that at the end. I’ve driven that route in a car, and it’s so very much steeper than the cameras show. No long slog last climb slow motion sprint, this time. Does this suggest that maybe someday the Mur de Huy won’t be a sprint at the end?