Tadej Pogacar wins stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia - Race leader puts in minutes to the competition on brutal mountain stage
CyclingSunday, 19 May 2024 at 17:37
There was no doubt that Tadej Pogacar was the strongest climber at the Giro d'Italia and today he virtually cemented his victory in the race. On a brutal and long day at the race, with incredible amounts of climbing and high altitude involved, the UAE Team Emirates rider put in minutes over all of his rivals and won stage 15 in style close to Livigno.
222 kilometers on the bike. For anyone a tough task, but specially when such a brutal day in the mountains is on the table. Over 5500 meters of climbing, high altitude and long ascents. UAE Team Emirates did not try to control the day early on and every rider that tried to make a move as soon as the climbing began had the freedom.
In total, around 50 riders managed to form what could be called the breakaway - which was in reality a mix of several large groups that went up the road in different moments. Around 15 riders were in the front group, mostly rouleurs and sprinters; whilst the chasing group included GC contender Michael Storer, Nairo Quintana and many more - including, for example, six Bardiani riders but without Domenico Pozzovivo.
The maximum gap over the UAE-led peloton would reach just over 5 minutes, as the front of the race often changed with different riders and groups making it up. On the Passo del Mortirolo the front group saw a few riders from the chase to bridge across, making a bit more selection. Christian Scaroni and Giulio Pellizzari led over the climb, Nicola Conci and Simon Geschke chased closeby. But a few others were not far and on the descent and following kilometers a group would form itself back in the front.
This group was still built of around 15 riders or so and did not have good collaboration. Jhonatan Narváez and Scaroni attacked a few times, but the riders went into the Passo del Foscagno relatively closeby. Georg Steinhauser moved off the front in the base of the climb, building 40 seconds over the group that was thinning down.
Nairo Quintana attacked from the chase with 17 kilometers to go, where Michael Storer was keeping a steady pace. The Colombian rode a strong pace and eventually caught up with the German rider, then dropping him and riding over the summit of the climb... But he had a small lead over none other than Tadej Pogacar.
UAE led out Pogacar on the climb and he attacked with 14 kilometers to go. With an extra gear in comparison to everyone else, the Slovenian overtook everyone on the road. Quintana still survived until the final climb, but the Movistar rider was caught with 2 kilometers to go and had to led go of the stage win.
Tadej Pogacar put in a mythical performance at altitude to win in Mottolino, completely unmatched by any other rider, with the final kilometer proving itself brutal even against him. Nairo Quintana rode to second place, an impressive result that signals his return to the top level, but without the stage win.
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- NO ONE crashed!frieders301-06-2025
- Del Toro should never have followed Carapaz initial attack and instead have his team around him to set a hard temp on an hour long climb to reel him back in. His youth and enthusiasm weren't good for tactics that were needed to win ! UAE also failed him with their so called 'strong team' not being there on the climb anywhere!frieders301-06-2025
- Nothing much is up for grabs if you don’t even fight for the win - which is how Del Toro rode today regarding Yates taking victory from him.AndrewK31-05-2025
- Felix Serna says it exactly right about Del Toro. How could anyone just voluntarily give up victory in that manner? Carapaz obviously was trying to fight for the win, but I think clearly he ended up disgusted by the way Del Toro was riding - not even willing to ride hard on the descent to fight for the win - and thus in the end Carapaz just felt what can I do with someone riding like this.AndrewK31-05-2025
- Del Toro made no meaningful effort to defend the jersey from Yates on the road taking it from him. Amazing lack of fight.AndrewK31-05-2025
- Pog at the giro was great to watch for a time - I found his greed in winning stages a turnoff, rather than put time into rivals without needing to chase down riders and deprive them. But that’s racingCrashjames31-05-2025
- With a whole team only a mic and earpiece away.Mistermaumau31-05-2025
- Really weird that neither one nor the other latched onto Yates but there you go.Mistermaumau31-05-2025
- Like a watered down version of THAT TdFMistermaumau31-05-2025
- No, the root problem is UAE management, no better than Visma really.Mistermaumau31-05-2025
Major kudos to Arensman, Quintana, Steinhauser, Bardet.
Grats!
What a stage! Wasn't sure Pogi would attack today, but when he did he looked as smooth as silk. If he pushed himself, he could possibly win by around twelve minutes, Although he needs to hold back a bit, the Tour is coming soon...
Wow! Pogacar is riding like he could win the Giro, TdeF, an Olympic gold and Vuelta this year if he rides judiciously. He could have a year like no other, albeit Jonas Vinegaard and others crashed their chances earlier this year. Maybe MVDP and a time specialist will keep him from the Olympic gold?
Congrats to Pogacar. Earlier this year another rider wished that he had Pogacar's mitochondria. Pogacar does have something special. I hope he can keep his wheels on the ground in today's peloton and doesn't let the media wear him out.
I expect Remco to be at the Tour, his strava training rides are looking great! He'll just be aiming for the podium though.
Remco will not put much fight, if Pogi rides like this at TDF imo. Remco will never win any GT in loaded rider field. His Vuelta win is just a fluke as it stands.
Pretty clear that everyone else has completely abandoned any thoughts other than second place.
Even if I don't recommend such riding for anyone who wants to win the double, it's fu***** impressive. This kind of performance comes after 30 years in this hardest stage. The best climbing performance of any rider since long time; at 14k the gap to Quintana is around 3'10" and after 14k solo he put 29" to Quint.. that's so remarkable. They said 'he's bad on longer climbs' 😂😂 eat that now. By the way, this stage is the hardest stage in any Grand Tour on the past 30 years.
Not true, there were a couple of harder stages, you can check a few here. However, it was a very difficult stage, no question about that
https://montefuscocycling.blogspot.com/2020/06/10-hardest-stages-ever-in-grand-tours.html?m=1
In a single stage he almost doubled his lead. Thomas did not even try to match him. Martinez tried for some time but quickly realized that he was going to go into red and desisted.
G knew better lol
Giro is dead. Now, everyone are fighting for 2nd and 3rd spots in the podium
Impressive. The safe lead just became an insurmountable lead. If Pogi wants to stop for a quick espresso on Stage 21 he should have time 😆