MADRID, 19 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won this Sunday the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia, held over 222 kilometers starting in Manerba del Garda and finishing in Livigno, whose outcome at the summit of Mottolino has seen another success for the leader of the general classification, gaining three minutes on their pursuers.
Pogacar took off 13.9 km from the finish line, with 5 km left to go to the top of the Passo di Foscagno, and only the Hungarian Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) was able to keep up with his pace for a while. But the Slovenian was determined to catch the Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), who was heading to Mottolino with the spirit of victory after having attacked 18 km from the finish.
The Colombian’s challenge had been to hunt down the German Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), survivor of the day’s great escape until the Movistar rider regained his old good feelings. However, Pogacar’s determination was so great that he passed Steinhauser like a locomotive and later, with 1.8 km remaining, also Quintana.
The last kilometer and a half, with gravel on the ground and quite a few Slovenian fans waving their country’s flags, was a lesson from Pogacar; another one from the ‘Little Prince’, now in the queen stage of the 107th edition of the men’s Giro where he has already won four stages.
6:11:41 was his final time in Livigno, 30 seconds ahead of Quintana; Steinhauser was third and exhausted the bonus prize. In this way, the wearer of the pink ‘maglia’ dealt the blow of the presumed sentence. And all this, following a day where there had been movements as soon as the start was launched.
In the initial 30 km, flat, 12 cyclists accelerated: Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Harrison Wood (Cofidis), Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Bert Van Lerberghe (Soudal-QuickStep), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla), Davide Bais (Team Polti Kometa) and Alessandro Tonelli ( VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
On the climb to Lodrino (3rd cat.), the German Simon Geschke (Cofidis) attacked and was then accompanied by a group of about 20 cyclists, who reduced the difference with the escapees to 2:10 while the peloton was 2:35 . The group of counterattackers was later expanded to 45 runners pursuing the 12 escapees.
Geschke lost to the Italian Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan) on the Colle San Zeno, whose descent allowed six runners to distance themselves. After 95 km, the group in the pink ‘maglia’ was 4:50 behind the head of the race, which shook when the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) caught up with the chasing group.
The peloton barely increased its pace on the Passo di Mortirolo, an icon in every Giro that appears on the route. And at that moment Pogacar stayed with about 30 filming companions, although with his UAE Team Emirates team, letting INEOS Grenadiers do the pushing.
Despite this, since the British Geraint Thomas is his reference, nothing prevented the ‘Little Prince’ from being exhibited again as the best in this year’s race. Now the Slovenian’s lead is 6:41 over Thomas, who is second, and 6:56 over the Colombian Daniel Martínez (BORA-hansgrohe), who occupies third place overall.
2024-05-19 15:04:56
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