Giro d’Italia 2024 Stage Report: Tadej Pogačar said after Friday’s stage 19 that he wanted to win stage 20. If the Slovenian champion says he wants to win then he usually succeeds. With 36 kilometres to go, Pogačar rode away from his competitors to solo to victory in Bassano del grappa. Just over 2 minutes later, the group of ‘favourites’ crossed the finish line, beaten again.
The final kilometre
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Stage win No.6 and the 2024 Giro d’Italia is in the bag
The last mountain stage of the 2024 Giro d’Italia fell prey to Tadej Pogačar. The pink jersey rode away from the other GC riders on the final climb, the Monte Grappa, for his sixth stage victory of this year’s Italian Grand Tour. Valentin Paret-Peintre was second, Daniel Felipe Martínez third.
Stage 20 map and profile
The stage starts by the Lago di Santa Croce, descends through Vittorio Veneto and goes over the Muro di Ca’ del Poggio, reaching the Prosecco area. After crossing the Piave, the route reaches the foot of the Monte Grappa and takes in a double ascent to the Sacrario (war memorial), coming from Semonzo. Middescent (towards Romano d’Ezzelino), after passing Ponte San Lorenzo both times, the course takes a short but steep kick up to Pianaro (with gradients exceeding 10%). After the second descent, the route continues to the finish. The ascent of the Monte Grappa (over 18 km in length) winds its way in curves and hairpins on relatively narrow mountain roads. It has an average 8% gradient, and peaks reaching 14%. The last 3km are on straight urban roads with some connecting bends. The route descends slightly, then a last bend 500m before the finish line leads into home straight (350 m), on 7m wide tarmac.
Happy 38th birthday for Geraint Thomas – Let’s hope he doesn’t crash today
Pink shorts on a wet day?
There were the usual early attacks, but it was Cyril Barthe (Groupama-FDJ) and Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan) who managed to get away. They were joined by Andrea Pietrobon (Polti Kometa), Jimmy Janssens & Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Rubén Fernández (Cofidis), Henok Mulubrhan (Astana Qazaqstan), Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and stage 19 winner, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R).
The leader’s jerseys on the last big day
The start was wet, but at the finish in Bassano del Grappa it is to be cloudy and 21°C
These 11 riders suited the peloton and they were allowed to take more 4 minutes lead. The break held their lead until the base of Monte Grappa, where Vendrame jumped away. The Italian was overhauled by Janssens, but the Belgian was passed by Vendrame again. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider wasn’t finished and attacked Vendrame again and was then able to hold on when Sánchez and Mulubrhan caught him.
The fans were out today
Vendrame returned at his own pace, along with Tonelli. Later Conci and Fernández were also able to catch them, so there were seven riders together at the front halfway up Monte Grappa. Their lead had decreased, as UAE Team Emirates had been pulling hard on the front of the peloton. The work of Mikkel Bjerg, Vegard Stake Laengen and Domen Novak put Filippo Zana, 9th overall, into trouble.
It was still raining when Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ) made the first attack
The break had thinned out at the front. Janssens, Sánchez and Tonelli were the strongest and were together for the final kilometre of the Monte Grappa. Behind them, Giulio Pellizzari crossed from the peloton and passed the leaders in the last hundred metres and took 40 KOM points. He passed Tobias Steinhauser in the King of the Mountains classification and is now in second place, behind Tadej Pogačar, who was now certain of winning the climber’s classification.
Mechanical problem for Luke Lamperti (Soudal Quick-Step)
On the descent of the Monte Grappa, Janssens couldn’t hold Pellizzari, Tonelli and Sánchez, who gained time on the peloton. The lead increased again to over 2:30, from just under 1 minute. In the first kilometres of the second climb of Monte Grappa, Pellizzari went solo. His lead on the peloton was more than 2 minutes. UAE Team Emirates was still leading the peloton, but Felix Großschartner wasn’t fast enough for Pogačar, so he put Novak on the front.
The peloton wasn’t too interested… yet
Novak lifted the speed, this was too fast for Romain Bardet, 7th overall. Rafal Majka was the next UAE man to take the lead. Geraint Thomas and others, were now in trouble. The Welshman had to leave a gap and Majka, Pogačar, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Antonio Tiberi and Einer Rubio pulled away. Only Michael Storer was able to close the gap, Ben O’Connor and Thymen Arensman also couldn’t hold on.
Maybe too much pink?
After another acceleration from Majka, Pogačar launched his attack 5.4 kilometres from the summit. Five hundred metres later he caught Pellizzari. The pink jersey wearer signalled to the young Italian to get on his wheel, but 3.5 kilometres from the top he had to let the Slovenian go. Pogačar was now going solo with 34 kilometres to go.
The break of the day started to form, but UAE Team Emirates were not going to give them much space
At the top of Monte Grappa, Pogačar had a lead of almost 2 minutes over Martínez, Rubio, Tiberi and Pellizzari, who took second place at the top. Thomas, Storer, O’Connor and Valentin Paret-Peintre were not far behind thanks to the work of the Frenchman. Arensman was on his own at almost 3 minutes behind Pogačar, but his 6th place overall was safe.
No time for cakes
This was all well behind Pogačar, around 2 minutes, who had plenty of time to enjoy his victory in Bassano del Grappa. He took his sixth stage victory of this Giro d’Italia and extended his lead in the general classification. The UAE Team Emirates leader only needs to finish Sunday’s stage 21 to Rome for his Giro victory. But he won’t be resting on his laurels for long as he will then start to prepare for the Tour de France in July.
It wasn’t going to be a day for the break
In the battle for second place on the stage. Martínez, Rubio, Tiberi, Pellizzari, Thomas, O’Connor and Valentin Paret-Peintre stayed together to the finish and would sprint it out for the stage podium. Paret-Peintre was the fastest, ahead of Martínez. The Arensman group lost a minute. Tiberi made sure the white young rider’s jersey was his.
Time for congratulations
Stage and final overall for Tadej Pogačar
There were some changes in the ‘Top 10’. Bardet dropped from seventh to ninth place and Zana dropped out of the 10 to eleventh place. Rubio, Jan Hirt and Storer moved up. Storer came into the Top 10, Rubio moved up to seventh and Hirt is now eighth.
The sprint for second place went to Valentin Paret-Peintre
Pogačar and his (pink) Colnago
Stage winner, Maglia Rosa and KOM, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “More or less this was the plan. We did a perfect job as a team. Molano and Rui worked at the beginning, covering attacks and making sure that no big group went away. Mikkel [Bjerg] and Vegard [Stake Laengen] set a good pace over the climb the first time. Then we executed the plan and I had good legs so I’m super happy that I got good gap at the top and I didn’t need to go full gas in the downhill. I cannot describe how it was feeling with all the fans on the Monte Grappa. Maybe it wasn’t important to do this today but we’ve had the Maglia Rosa since day 2 so I wanted to finish the Giro with a good shape and a good mentality. I think I have achieved that. I’ve never been to Rome before but I’ll enjoy it tomorrow for sure”.
The happy couple: Tadej Pogačar and Urska Zigart
# Catch up with all the Giro news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
Giro d’Italia Stage 20 Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 4:58:23
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at 2:07
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) BORA-hansgrohe
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
5. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
7. Geraint Thomas (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
8. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 2:31
10. Rafał Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates at 3:08.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 20:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 76:20:51
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) BORA-hansgrohe at 9:57
3. Geraint Thomas (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 10:26
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at 12:09
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious at 12:52
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 14:33
7. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar at 15:56
8. Jan Hirt (CZ) Soudal Quick-Step at 18:05
9. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL at 20:32
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 21:11.
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