Giro 2024: Unleashed Tadej Pogacar rides an insane final climb and beats Filippo Ganna in time trial

Tadej Pogacar has won the individual time trial in the Giro d’Italia. The rosette wearer rode an incredibly fast final climb and in the end was still under the time of Filippo Ganna. Pogacar also made a big difference in the general classification. Thymen Arensman had a good day and finished fourth, just behind teammate Magnus Sheffield.

The 38.5 kilometer time trial had a flat first part. The runners were able to express their strength on the long roads through the valley between the start and finish cities. After 34 kilometers the second part started with a steep wall of 1.3 kilometers at an average of 10.7 percent. Once at the top, the climbing continued until the finish. The wall and the last ascending kilometers are categorized as a fourth category climb of 6.5 kilometers.

Hoole on the hot seat
The time trial had not been going on for long before we already had to record a few falls. Tim van Dijke and Tobias Lund Andresen were the first victims. Lund crashed in a corner at the very beginning of the time trial. A zebra crossing had been painted in the bend, but it was not immediately clear whether that was the cause of the crash. Daan Hoole also almost crashed in that corner, but was able to just avoid a fall.

Van Dijke and Lund were able to continue their way. Hoole clearly had little trouble with his swing. The Dutchman from Lidl-Trek set a time of 54 minutes and 16 seconds, ahead of other time trial specialists such as Edoardo Affini, Tobias Foss and Josef Cerny. It was a first target time, but Hoole couldn’t stay on for long hot seat to sit. Not much later, Lorenzo Milesi, former world time trial champion, was 20 seconds better than Hoole.

New top time Ganna
Milesi was able to enjoy his first place for a while, but of course the real favorites were yet to arrive. Mikkel Bjerg was the first to under Milesi’s time, but a few minutes later Filippo Ganna crossed the line. The Italian time trial champion, who was hindered by a fan at the beginning of the time trial, pulverized Bjerg’s time. Ganna set a time of 52 minutes and 1 second, making him no less than a minute and 39 seconds faster than Bjerg.

Good time from Arensman
The first rider to come within a minute of Ganna was Maximilian Schachmann. The German rode a strong final climb and did it ‘only’ 47 seconds less than Ganna. Magnus Sheffield, one of the favorites in advance, did slightly better than Schachmann and had to give up 32 seconds to Ganna after 40.6 kilometers. After Schachmann and Sheffield we had to wait for the first times of the classification riders.

Thymen Arensman was the first classification rider to cross the line. The Dutchman had quite a good day and drove to the third fastest time at that time. Arensman did a very good job in the general classification. Antonio Tiberi was the next classification rider to set a good time, the Italian taking only one minute and four seconds longer than Ganna.

Pogacar starts cautiously
Then we had to wait for the last three starters, who are in principle also good time trialists. Then we are talking about Daniel Felipe Martínez, Geraint Thomas and rosette wearer Tadej Pogacar. Martínez was somewhat disappointing at the first intermediate point, he had to give in to Ganna for more than a minute. Thomas did half a minute better than Martínez. And Pogacar? He did not have great legs and took 44 seconds longer to complete the first part than Ganna. In other words, the stage victory seemed to have already disappeared.

The next intermediate point was at the foot of the final climb. Pogacar, unlike Martínez and Thomas, lost little additional ground compared to Ganna, but was still 47 seconds behind. It was good for the third fastest time at the second intermediate point. Pogacar had clearly organized his time trial well and was preparing for the last tough kilometers.

Crazy ending for Pogacar
Martínez proved that you could still make up for a lot on the final climb. The Colombian made up more than half a minute on the final climb. Thomas, on the other hand, lost a lot of ground in the last tough kilometers and almost dropped out of the top 10. Then we had to wait for Pogacar, who rode up the final climb without any restraint. The Slovenian rode an insane final climb and defeated Ganna in extremis.

Pogacar made up no less than a minute and four seconds on the final climb. In other words, he beat Ganna by a margin of seventeen seconds. Arensman thus fell out of the top 3. In the general classification, Pogacar now has a lead of more than two minutes over first pursuer Martínez, who overtook Thomas after a strong time trial.