BASSANO DEL GRAPPA: Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates showed his absolute domination of this year’s Giro d’Italia again on Saturday, riding away solo to win stage 20, his sixth stage victory as he extended his overall lead going into the final day.

Riding a bright pink bike to match his leader’s jersey, the Slovenian superstar could afford to wave to the crowd in the final stages of the 184km route from Alpago to Bassano del Grappa as he powered home to put a roughly 10-minute gap between himself and his closest rivals in the general classification.

Pogacar already had an overall lead of seven minutes and 42 seconds over Daniel Felipe Martinez, and when he made his move on the day’s second climb of Monte Grappa, nobody could keep pace.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), winner of stage 10, came in second as he outsprinted Martinez who finished third, more than two minutes behind Pogacar in his debut Giro which he will close out in Sunday’s procession finale around Rome.

“We wanted the pink jersey from stage two, a lot of obligations every day, a lot of things to do all day... I wanted to finish the Giro with good mentality and good shape and I think I achieved that,” Pogacar said. “I’ve never been in Rome before, but I’m going to enjoy it for sure.”

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2024