When Geraint Thomas and, three minutes later, Tadej Pogacar left Foligno, three Ineos cyclists were leading the finish line in Perugia. The Welshman’s teammates on the British team dominated the standings. Ganna, Sheffield and Arensman monopolized the first three places. The Italian champion of the specialty because he wanted to win the two stages against the clock of this Giro and his two other colleagues had to serve as a reference for Thomas in his attempt to get closer to the pink jersey before the big mountain.
Perhaps the vision, the prospect of being surrounded by rivals from the same team would have intimidated another leader but not Pogacar, who blew up the Ineos plan, who already made the debut in Turin with Narváez sour and who were the most active in the sterrato, to make him a sandwich. The Slovenian did not let himself be caught. He escaped at full speed from the trap they wanted to prepare for him.
Faced with the threat, Pogacar did not change his scheme and went from less to more in the 40.6 kilometers. He started at idle, without spending too much, knowing that he had to push himself at the end, on the climb towards Perugia. That’s where he really crafted his second stage win in this Giro. There he used his climbing skills to make a difference. That’s where he left Filippo Ganna with honey on his lips, who dressed in the tricolore overtook up to five cyclists who started before him.
The last six kilometers went uphill, starting with the hard slopes of Casaglia, at 10%, but no one changed the goat for a conventional bicycle. Not even Pogacar, who did do it in the last time trial of the Tour, in Combloux. The UAE boss learned his lesson and it turned out well. In that final ascent he was more than a minute ahead of Ganna, who was 47s ahead of him below the pass, to snatch the victory.
The great loser of the Perugia time trial was the disfigured Ineos. Not only because Ganna was left without his long-awaited victory but also because Thomas even lost second place, which is now occupied by Dani Martínez, the Colombian from Bora. The Welshman, second in last year’s Giro, was choked again by the uphill time trial, precisely where in 2023 he lost the pink with the other Slovenian, Roglic, on the penultimate day on Mount Lussari. One minute and 20 seconds he put Pogacar in the port, which brought out the colors of what should have been his great opponent, who could barely be tenth in his field and who is very touched. Away, he sees how Tiberi (Bahrain) and O’Connor (Decathlon) get back into the fight for the podium after their bad day in Oropa, while Juanpe López (Lidl) dropped 4m17s.
Pogacar had not performed at that supreme level in a time trial for almost three years. Not counting the national championship in his country, the Slovenian had not won one since July 2021, in his second Tour. But his two-tone jumpsuit, pink jersey, maroon culottes, which is so little liked in the offices of the International Cycling Union, gave him wings. “There is a lot of preparation in this victory in the time trial. “I am very happy for the day I have had,” he reflected. It was noted that he has worked to be on par with Vingegaard and Evenepoel in France.
That will be the second big challenge of the season. In the first, this Giro, in seven days, before the end of the first week and also before the second high finish, this Saturday in Prati di Tivo, the Slovenian has everyone within an almost definitive distance. A very favorable panorama that today can be even more favorable. Disfigured Thomas, the Giro is explained by Tadej Pogacar’s smile.
