This weekend 12 months ago, it felt as though half of Slovenia had decamped to the slopes of Monte Lussari in support of Primož Roglič. On that occasion, they travelled to the final weekend of the Giro d’Italia in hope as much as in expectation. This time out, they will mass on Monte Grappa already secure in the knowledge that they are bearing witness to a coronation.
Tadej Pogačar has been utterly without peer on this Giro. For much of the race, it has been as though he has been riding behind a velvet rope, travelling to exclusive areas that even riders of the quality of Geraint Thomas and Daniel Martínez simply cannot access.
