Key Takeaways: Giro d'Italia Stage 20

Breaking down how a tough stage with multiple ascents of the massive Monte Grappa was won and how it codified the final GC standings

Tadej Pogačar extended his three-week exhibition by riding clear of the heavily pruned group of general classification contenders halfway up the second of two ascents of the brutal Monte Grappa, which stood menacingly tall above the Venetian plain on the way to his sixth stage win at the 2024 Giro d’Italia. Pogačar used his UAE team to methodically control a tough day that would commonly feature chaotic racing before a late, and effortless, lifting of the pace created a gap that stretched to over two minutes ahead of the closest chase group, which included the remaining top five in the overall standings, by the finish line. In doing so, the Slovenian stretched his overall lead to just below ten minutes, a final margin not seen since the 1960s, and left no doubt about who was the strongest rider at this race and potentially the sport as a whole.

Stage 20 Top Five:
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE) +0
2) Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R) +2’07
3) Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) +2’07
4) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain) +2’07
5) Einer Rubio (Movistar) +2’07

KOM Classification Top Three:
1) Tadej Pogačar 270pts
2) Giulio Pellizzari 206pts
3) Georg Steinhauser 153pts

Current Top Ten GC Standings:
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE) +0
2) Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) +9’56
3) Geraint Thomas (Ineos) +10’24
4) Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) +12’07
5) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain) +12’49
6) Thymen Arensman (Ineos) +14’31
7) Einer Rubio (Movistar) +15’52
8) Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +18’05
9) Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) +20’32
10) Michael Storer (Tudor) +21’11

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Stage 20 Race Notebook

BTP is seamlessly following every twist and turn of the 2024 Giro d’Italia with the fantastic Tour Tracker app (iPhone/Android/Web)

93.3km-to-go: At the base of the first pass of the brutal Monte Grappa climb, Pogačar’s UAE team is setting a medium-hard pace on the front in an effort to slowly chip away at the four-minute lead of the early breakaway.

77.9km: VF-Bardiani’s youth sensation Giulio Pellizzari gets up and over the top of the first pass of the climb with a minute of his advantage remaining.

50km: After a helpful bit of pacing work on the descent from his teammate, Pellizzari heads up the final climb with his advantage blown out to over two minutes to the UAE-led peloton.

41.1km: Pogačar, looking slightly agitated about the gap to Pellizzari holding steady, appears to ask his team of they have anything left or if he should just launch his attack now.

36.6km: After the visit from Pogačar, Rafał Majka gets to work on the front, bringing the gap to the leader down to a minute and shredding the GC field, with only three other non-UAE riders left in it and a hurting Geraint Thomas slightly distanced.

36.1km: Teed up by the high pace, Pogačar attacks and, as has been the case this entire race, instantly drops the rest of the field. His gap to Pellizzari is at 48 seconds.

35.5km: After just half a kilometer of riding, Pogačar closes down the gap to Pellizzari.

35.4km: The young Italian impressively holds Pogačar’s wheel, who, despite looking smooth, is holding 450w or 6.9w/kg throughout this climb, for a few moments before being dropped.

29.4km: Pellizzari crests climb pacing the Tiberi/Martínez chase group, who are now nearly two minutes down on Pogačar, and a handful of seconds ahead of the Geraint Thomas/Ben O’Connor chase group, which is being paced by a flying Valentin Paret-Peintre.

6.8km: Instead of sitting up to minimize risks, Pogačar presses the descent and continues to extend his lead on the chase group, which has merged after Thomas and O’Connor make contact with the Tiberi/Martínez group.

Finish: Even after coasting over the finish line while taking a bow, Pogačar crosses the finish line over two minutes ahead of the GC chase group, led home by Valentin Paret-Peintre.

*All power data provided by Road Code

Key Takeaways

1) Tadej Pogačar Won A Historic Number of Stages While Riding His Own Pre-TdF Training Camp During This Giro: At this point, there isn’t much left to say about the 25-year-old Slovenian, but clinically taking his sixth stage win on this Giro, which sees him match Eddy Merckx’s career record for number of stage wins in a single Giro, says it all.