BASSANO DEL GRAPPA – He closed with a bow, with a new triumph in pink, and he is truly, now, the winner of the 107th Giro d’Italia. The new performance of Tadej Pogacar it is a number destined to make history: 36 km of solo for the 6th stage success, in Bassano del Grappa, 2 minutes to the beaten one and a huge advantage on the eve of the catwalk in Rome: Pogacar will win the Giro with almost 10 minutes on the Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez. Third was Geraint Thomas, then O’Connor and a splendid Antonio Tiberi, 5th and best Under 25 of the race. But on yet another day of glory for the Slovenian, the 20-year-old from the Marche region also shines Giulio Pellizzari, on the attack for a long time and joined by Pogacar on the last of the two ascents of Monte Grappa. A gesture of understanding between the two made us dream for a moment, but then Pogacar opened the throttle again. And then it was a show, in the midst of many Slovenian flags, with many fans, too many hands outstretched (he even got angry twice), gestures of triumph many kilometers from the finish, smiles, a water bottle given to a child.
Until the final bow, the all pink Colnago bike lifted at the finish line, the kiss to his girlfriend and colleague Urska Zigart. All in another day of pure cycling, with attacks, actions, waiting for her, widely announced on the eve. There is no point in wondering if Pogacar will attack: when he was at -36. “Thanks to all the fans,” Pogi said at the end, “without them none of this would have been possible. The last hard stage was my goal. True, I didn’t need to do this new action. It wasn’t necessary, but I wanted it. Now I can rest. The water bottle for the child? I asked the masseur for a water bottle. Twenty years ago it could have been me and I would have been in tears. I said to myself why not?”.
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About ten riders attack right from the start: Nicola Conci (Alpecin – Deceuninck), Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin – Deceuninck), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Henok Mulubrhan (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Rubén Fernández (Cofidis), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Difesa Team), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama – FDJ), Edward Theuns (Lidl – Trek), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar Team), Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti Kometa) and Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè). The pink jersey group follows at 4 minutes. Vendrame, the winner of Sappada, is the first to approach Monte Grappa, while Bjerg sets the pace in the Pogacar group. The Slovenian faces a couple of unexpected events at the start of the stage: a handlebar problem before the start on his all-pink bike and then he asks the doctor’s car for sun cream for his arms. The day, which began under a heavy downpour, suddenly became very hot. Six remain in the lead: Fernandez, Janssens, Sanchez, Tonelli, Vendrame and Mulubrhan, but Pogacar’s intention to make the stage is clear. Giulio Pellizzari comes out of the pink jersey group, making the first ascent of Grappa his own and consolidating himself in second place in the climbers’ ranking behind the elusive Pogi. The group passes the gpm with less than a minute delay. Pellizzari and Sanchez remain alone, then the other Bardiani Tonelli returns: Pogacar invites his teammates to slow down, so the advantage of the three reaches even 2’30”. Pellizzari remains alone and launches towards the feat, while Pogacar, 2 minutes late, takes stock of his companions: Novak increases the pace 10 km from the summit of Grappa, Majka takes over at -7 and the group explodes : Thomas and O’Connor are in difficulty, while Tiberi holds up well. At -5.6 km from the summit Pogacar starts and in two pedal strokes he clears the air. Behind him the trio Tiberi-Martinez-Storer. Pogacar quickly catches Pellizzari, smiles at him and carries him up, but as soon as the climb gets harder the Slovenian is left alone among thousands of his compatriots, but he has to fight against the pressure of the fans and a couple of times takes his hand off the handlebars to protest. At the top of the Grappa Pogacar passes with just under 2 minutes from Tiberi, Martinez, Rubio and an immense Pellizzari. At 2’11” O’Connor, Thomas and Storer. There are 31 km of descent to go and Pogacar is very alone. He also has time to pass a water bottle to a child on the Pianaro climb, 20 km from the finish. The two groups chasing Pogacar reunite on the descent: the ranking will remain identical in the top five positions.
