Tadej Pogacar wins stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia - Race leader puts in minutes to the competition on brutal mountain stage

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.