Giro d’Italia 2024 Stage Report: Today on stage 15 to Livigno (Mottolino), Tadej Pogačar gave a master class on how to win a mountainous Giro stage and (probably) a grand Tour. It looked like Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was on his way back to redemption, when the Slovenian champion decided he wanted more stage glory and more (a lot) of time on his adversaries. Pogačar swept past the Colombian on the last ramps of the final climb to claim (yet) another stage and nearly three minutes on the other GC men.
The final kilometre
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Tadej Pogačar – What can you say?
Tadej Pogac3ar impressively won the tough 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia. In the final to Livigno, the pink jersey crossed a big gap solo to take the win. Nairo Quintana, who held on for a long time from the early break, finished second, when he had victory in his sights.
This high mountain stage passes and finishes above 2,000m, taking in 5 major climbs. The only time for the riders to catch their breath will be through the Val Camonica. After going over Lodrino, the route takes a first ever pass up the Colle San Zeno, followed by a lengthy and technical descent. After crossing the Val Camonica from Pisogne to Edolo, the route clears the Mortirolo (coming from Monno) and then descends towards the Valtellina. The route continues uphill through the short Le Motte climb just outside Bormio, passing Isolaccia Valdidentro and going over the Passo di Foscagno. A short descent then leads to the final climb of the Passo di Eira. At the summit, the route follows a paved road that ascends the Mottolino piste.
The final kilometres are uphill. The gradient changes dramatically with 2km to go, past the Passo di Eira, where the average pitch remains above 10% even if the road features steep ramps alternating with not so sharp slopes. Along the final ramp, past the flamme rouge, gradients top out at 19%, then ease out a little, and eventually bounce back all the way to the home straight (50m), on 6m wide tarmac.
The top two on GC at the start: Tadej Pogačar and Geraint Thomas
Early in the stage a large leading group got together: Davide Ballerini & Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Harrison Wood (Cofidis), Laurence Pithie, Olivier Le Gac & Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ ), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Bert van Lerberghe (Soudal Quick-Step), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla), Davide Bais (Polti-Kometa) and Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè). The twelve quickly took 4 minutes on the peloton.
Probably a day the points leader, Jonathan Milan is not looking forward too
Cofidis had Harrison Wood in the break, but he was clearly not the right man for the French team, so they lifted the speed in the peloton, much to the annoyance of Lillian Calmejane, 5th in the KOM classification. Cofidis were working for mountain jersey wearer Simon Geschke, who counter-attacked on the first climb of the day, the Lodrino (7.6km at 4.4%). Other climbers followed, eventually creating a large chase group.
Will there be any changes in the jersey wearers?
This group of 45 riders included Gijs Leemreize (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Julian Alaphilippe & Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Tobias Foss & Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers). The best placed rider was Michael Storer of Tudor, who was 12th overall at 9:11 to Tadej Pogačar.
A rider we’ve not seen much of in the Giro, Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) made it into the early break
The two front groups came together on the Colle San Zeno (13.7km at 6.7%). There were now 58 riders up front, with a lead of 4:30 over the peloton led by UAE Team Emirates. This situation did not last long, because six riders broke away on the descent. From the original early break there were Bayer, Wood, Ballerini and Tonelli, from the second group there was Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazastan) and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
The peloton had Lago di Garda for company at the start
Before the Mortirolo (12.6km at 7.7%) had started, Ballerini and Bayer had to let go. The four remaining had a lead of just under 1 minute over the chasing group at the foot of the climb, where Polti Kometa set the pace for Davide Piganzoli. The peloton with Pogačar was again at 4 minutes.
Could the break go all the way today? They had nearly 5 minutes with a very tough 150 kilometres to go
On the climb the leading group thinned out even more. Scaroni and Pellizzari stayed together, but just before the summit, Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined them. The three started the descent together. Their lead over the others was limited and after the descent, Storer, Geschke, Piganzoli, Narváez, Velasco, Quintana, López, Alaphilippe, Vansevenant, Attila Valter (Visma | Lease a Bike), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Luca Covili (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Michel Ries (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) joined them.
A big chase group formed between break and peloton
In the run-up to the final climb, the group was split again. At the foot of the Foscagno Pass (14.6km at 6.5%), there were ten leaders, with a 3 minute lead over the peloton. Steinhauser attacked. The German made his move at the right moment and created a gap. Valter saw the danger. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider tried to cross, but couldn’t get close. Storer and Quintana eventually joined the Hungarian.
UAE Team Emirates were in control of the peloton
The Giro was in the mountains today
Quintana then went on his own after Steinhauser. The German had almost a 1 minute lead. The peloton, where Pogačar’s right-hand man, Rafal Majka was leading, was still more than 3 minutes ahead. Pogačar looked happy just to finish the stage with the favourites group. But no, the pink jersey attacked 14 kilometres from the finish. Daniel Felipe Martínez tried to follow him, but couldn’t. Geraint Thomas also had no answer.
Could the break succeed again today? 3 minutes with 24 kilometres of climbing to go
The fans were out to see the pink jersey
Quintana joined Steinhauser at the front. The EF Education-EasyPost rider was able stay with the Colombian for a little time, but the Movistar climber soon went solo. Pogačar was on his way. At the top of the Foscagno Pass, Quintana had 40 seconds on Pogačar, at the foot of the climb to Livigno (4.7km at 7.7%) it was still the same. But, in the kilometres that followed, Pogačar was quickly getting closer. The group of Thomas and Martínez were 3 minutes behind the Slovenian with 2 kilometres to go.
The group of GC men were not getting any closer…. Apart from Pogačar
Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) gave it his best
Pogačar swept past Quintana. He left the Colombian in his wake and flew to the top of the climb. The UAE Team Emirates rider took his fourth stage victory of this Giro d’Italia. Quintana was second at 29 seconds. Then it was Steinhauser in third at 2:32.
Tadej Pogačar decided it was time to go…
…and that was the last any of the other riders saw of him
In the favourites group: Romain Bardet was first in fourth place. Behind him it was Thymen Arensman leading Thomas, who tried to drop Martínez and O’Connor in the final kilometre. O’Connor, who had also struggled earlier, was again in trouble, but Martínez still had something left. They crossed the line together at 2:50 behind Pogačar.
It was close for Nairo Quintana
Pogačar was flying to the finish
Stage winner KOM and Maglia Rosa, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): “Today was one of the best days of my career. It was a very nice stage with a good route and very nice climbs. We had this stage in mind since December. I’m super happy that we kept it under control. It was a very strong breakaway. We had to be smart because of the tail wind. I’m very happy to win the queen stage of the Giro in Livigno, one of my favourite places in Italy. I opened a gap after Rafal Majka finished his turn. I continued solo… When I used to watch Quintana and Froome I was always angry that I wouldn’t attack from far out but today he did. But today he did a super good job and also Georg Steinhauser, there are a few riders who deserve a mention today.”
He seems popular
Fighting for the podium
# Catch up with all the Giro d’Italia news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
Giro d’Italia Stage 15 Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 6:11:43
2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 0:29
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost in 2:32
4. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL at 2:47
5. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) BORA-hansgrohe at 2:50
6. Geraint Thomas (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
7. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar at 2:58
8. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:05
10. Jan Hirt (CZ) Soudal Quick-Step at 3:20.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 15:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 56:11:46
2. Geraint Thomas (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 6:41
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) BORA-hansgrohe at 6:56
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at 7:43
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious at 9:26
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 9:45
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL at 10:49
8. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco AlUla at 11:11
9. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar at 12:13
10. Jan Hirt (CZ) Soudal Quick-Step at 13:11.
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