Tadej Pogačar added another Giro d’Italia stage victory to his collection, once again extending his race lead, as he triumphed on the stage 16 summit finish at Santa Cristina Valgardena.
The break had looked to have a rare win in their sights up until the final 2km of the mountain of a weather-abridged stage, but the Slovenian and his UAE Team Emirates squad – with some earlier help from Movistar – had other ideas, with Rafał Majka working to close the gap on the short but sharp final climb.
He rose out of the saddle with an inevitable attack as Giulio Pellizzarri (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) fought for his team’s first Giro stage win since 2016, and soon enough he had caught and passed the 20-year-old debutant. The Italian could at least console himself with second on the day – as well as a souvenir in the form of Pogačar’s sunglasses and maglia rosa after the stage.
Finishing 16 seconds behind the winner, Pellizzari just about edged out Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the line, with the Colombian having retaken second place podium rival Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) with an attack of his own in the final kilometres.
Pellizzari had been part of a move which jumped from the peloton 14km from the finish line on the Giro’s longest climb, the Passo Pinei. He, Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan) hunted down the last man standing from the early breakaway, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), making it across to him 5km from the line.
Alaphilippe had to let go at the front 2.5km out, but at that point the peloton lay fewer than 20 seconds back and Pogačar’s attack was imminent.
First Costiou, then Pellizzari, attempted to stave off the inevitable, but it was to no avail, as the dominant man of the race sped past on the way to yet another win.
As a result, Pogačar extends his overall lead over seven minutes for the first time – he now enjoys an advantage of 7:18 over. Thomas’s off day in the rainy Alps, meanwhile, saw him cross the line in 15th place, 49 down on Martínez, having held second by 15 seconds overnight. He now lies third at 34 off second place at 7:40 down.
“The day started really on and off and we didn’t know what to do, but when we started it was fine,” Pogačar said after his win, his 12th of 2024. “The breakaway went, and it was good for us, and we sat back and tried to relax but Movistar kept on pushing and kept the breakaway close and then they went really fast on the second last climb and then the final 2km we tried to control and then Rafał had enough. He said we push on we try to make some gaps.
“Since yesterday, it was just thinking to be safe yesterday. In the end, it was good for us and also good for the people, good for everybody so i think we should be happy given the circumstances.
”I was thinking that Pellizzari would win today’s stage and he was close and I’m super happy that he arrives second also,” he added. “I really admire him in this Giro already and he sent me a photo that we took in 2019 I was actually a small kid and he was also a small kid and it was an amazing memory from Strade Bianche and now he’s here and he’s going really strong and maybe he can win a stage this week.”
How it unfolded
Stage 16 had been due to start at 11:20 in Livigno and tackle the first category, 2,498-metre climb of the Umbrailpass on a 206km route. However, the day was both abridged – the Umbrailpass removed after the peloton held a vote due to weather conditions in the area – and the start postponed.
A more agreeable 121km race lay in wait for the riders, starting at Lasaa over the side of the Umbrailpass but preserving the final two mountains of the day, while the start was delayed from 11:20 to 14:25 as a result of the upheaval.
The stage eventually got underway on wet roads under heavy rain, though the grim conditions didn’t dissuade riders from attacking at the very start.
Early breakaway attempts came from Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek), and Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), though none of the trio would make it away.
Instead, four riders – stage 12 winner Alaphilippe, Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), and Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa) – broke clear after just under 30km of downhill racing to start the stage.
Movistar took to the front of the peloton en masse to keep the move in check, holding the gap at under two minutes as the groups made their way to the valley floor. The long downhill run to start the stage meant that the riders were almost halfway done with the stage after an hour, having swiftly covered 57km, though of course far harder terrain lay ahead.
The climbing duly started after 80km of racing, by which point little of note had happened out on the road, beyond Ballerini leading the way over the first intermediate sprint of the day at Bolzano.
As the four breakaway men hit the first of the day’s two closing climbs, the Passo Pinei (23.3km at 4.7%), 36km mostly uphill kilometres lay between them and the finish line. 1:30 down the road, the peloton continued to chase with Movistar at the head.
Piccolo and Ballerini were the first men from the front to struggle with the gradients, with the former quickly dropping back to the peloton on the early slopes of the Giro’s longest climb.
Unsurprisingly, it was Alaphilippe who led the way at the front, distancing Maestri to go solo with just over 30km to go before swiftly putting a minute between himself and his former companions.
Eventually, as Alaphilippe ploughed a long furrow out front, Ballerin and Maestri were joined by Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), and another Polti-Kometa rider in Andrea Pietrobon after the pair attacked from the peloton. Up the road, Alaphilippe took the two remaining sprints at Fié allo Sciliar and Siusi allo Sciliar, retaining his 1:30 advantage over the chasers with another 15 seconds in hand over the peloton.
At the 20km marker, stage 6 winner Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) jumped from the peloton to end the hopes of that chase group. He’d ride along alone at around 10 seconds up on the peloton for 4km before his own Movistar team brought him back.
The Spanish team continued the pacemaking, dragging lone leader Alaphilippe back bit by bit and slimming the peloton down in the process, with Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) a notable casualty from seventh overall.
More attacks – Sánchez plus Costiou, Pellizzari, and Scaroni – came at 14km to go before the Spaniard was forced to stop with a chain problem soon after.
Alaphilippe managed to crest the Pinei and claim 50 mountain points alone, but only just, with the new chasing trio by then only 15 seconds behind him and the UAE Team Emirates-led peloton at 40 seconds. Bardet persevered in the chase another 40 seconds down.
The final climb
A 5.5km descent paved the way towards the climb to the finish at Santa Cristina Val Gardena (7.5km at 6.1%). Alaphilippe had 20 seconds to start the ascent, with the peloton having fallen to 47 seconds – every little helps.
He held his advantage well on the early slopes, though the steepest sections of the climb – featuring gradients reaching into double figures – lay in the final 2km. Behind him, 20-year-old Pellizzari led the chase with 21-year-old Costiou as Scaroni (26) fought to stay in touch.
The trio would become a quartet from the finish line as Alaphilippe was finally caught, while back in the peloton Rafał Majka had closed the gap to just 25 seconds. The four up front stayed together for 2.5km before Alaphilippe, after one last big pull on the front, mind, had to give up the ghost after almost 90km in the breakaway.
The steepest inclines of the climb lay in wait for the rest, and it was Costiou who made the first move around a wet hairpin angled towards the summit. He’d bring Pellizzarri with him as Scaroni couldn’t keep up. Bardiani’s young talent shot to the front with 1.5km to go, leaving Costiou behind as he sought his team’s first Giro stage win in eight years.
Behind him, though, there was an ominous sight as Majka pulled off the front, his work done. Attack Pogačar, yet again. The maglia rosa left behind his GC rivals with ease on the steep slopes and made his way past Scaroni and Costiou to head off and shut down Pellizzarri.
He made it across with 700 metres to go, as further back the carnage wreaked by the attack, and the climb, saw Geraint Thomas losing ground to his podium rival Dani Martínez. At 600 to go, Pogačar was alone out front and on the way to another stage win.
Behind him, Pellizzari stuck with Martínez and beat the Colombian across the line, an impressive result so deep into his first Giro. Martínez had to settle for third place and four bonus seconds rather than six with second place, but he had put 33 seconds into Thomas in any case – more than enough to step up into second overall.
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