Category: Giro d’Italia

If it appeared that Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was in a generous mood on the climb of Prati di Tivo, the race leader could not resist kicking clear of his general classification rivals to secure the third win of his debut Giro d’Italia and further cement his hold on the pink jersey.

Pogacar rode Stage 8 from Spoleto in economic fashion – allowing his UAE team-mates to control the tempo in the main field before relying on Rafal Majka and Felix Grossschartner to reel in the remaining escapees on the race’s first major summit finish.

One day after the Slovenian’s sensational time trial win, Pogacar left it until late to leave his mark – responding to Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) when the Colombian opened up the sprint before easing to the completion of his opening-week hat-trick.

Martinez consolidated his second place in the standings with a solid second place ahead of Australia’s Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and the impressive Italian Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious). Welsh veteran Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) completed the top five but crossed the line two seconds back to sink further away from Pogacar in the general classification when bonus seconds were factored in.

“I was not expecting it at all today,” Pogacar said before praising his team-mates for their work in paving the way for his latest triumph. “As a team we rode super well from the beginning and we came with a good time gap to the last climb. Mikkel [Bjerg] and [Vegard Stake] Laengen did a super good job until the final climb. Rafa [Majka] did an amazing lead out and it’s amazing to win again here at Prati di Tivo.”

More to follow…

The first of the race’s two individual time trials is the most difficult and comes at an important time in the race ahead of two tricky days prior to the first rest day. For the first 34km this is a fast and flat ride up the Topino valley in Umbria, passing near the historic hilltop town of Assisi. But the cat will be thrown among the pigeons 6.6km from the finish with a punchy double-digit climb (1.3km at 10.7%) ahead of a flat section and then a steady rise to the beautiful city of Perugia.

Another ramp of 11% comes 2km from the finish ahead of the leg-sapping final push towards the broad avenue of the Corso Vannucci, the social centre of the city. Such is the test of the final quarter that riders with serious ambitions to take the win – or merely to limit their losses – will have to manage their efforts on the flat section in the valley for fear of blowing up at the end.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) is already in pole position and will be looking to consolidate – or more likely increase – his 46-second advantage over Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in the general classification.

The UK coverage will be bookended by The Breakaway, presented by Orla Chennaoui, who has a string of esteemed guests joining her across the three weeks. Usual suspects Dan Lloyd, Adam Blythe and 12-time stage winner Robbie McEwen will return, with former Jumbo-Visma star Nathan van Hooydonck swooping in for the final week as Blythe resumes his duties on the motorbike in Italy.

And fans of Jonathan Vaughters are in for a treat on Stages 8 and 9, with the outspoken EF Education–EasyPost supremo joining our coverage.

Meanwhile, the charismatic Jens Voigt (Stages 1-9), former road star Daniel Oss (Stages 10-14), two-time winner Alberto Contador (Stage 15) and Blythe (Stages 16-21) will be doing their thing on the back of a motorbike to bring fans closer to the action.