Pogacar wins Giro d'Italia as Merlier sees off resurgent Milan in Stage 21 sprint

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) stayed out of trouble to win the Giro d’Italia by almost 10 minutes, while Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) took the spoils in the final sprint to deny the resurgent Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

After bagging six wins across an utterly dominant three weeks, the Slovenian displayed his versatility again by popping up in the leadout in the final circuit around Rome to assist team-mate Juan Sebastian Molano’s sprint bid.

But that finale ultimately went the way of Merlier, who proved the strongest in a messy tear-up that saw Lidl-Trek heroically drag Milan back into contention after the Italian was forced into a bike change with 9km remaining.

As the final stage of a Grand Tour usually is, it was a strange, two-halved affair. The first 50km were dedicated to parade, procession, prosecco and photoshoots, as the maglia rosa lined up alongside his UAE Team Emirates colleagues, bedecked in special pink-sleeved jerseys to celebrate a collective effort at bringing the Giro home.

Antonio Tiberi was feted for winning the young rider’s competition with his Bahrain-Victorious team-mates, while Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale got their moment in the sun for conquering the team prize.

Meanwhile, Domenico Pozzovivo (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) was granted the honour of leading the bunch onto the Rome circuit to complete his 18th and final Giro d’Italia.

The racing began, and ended, with eight laps of a slightly altered 10km circuit, taking in the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. Two riders attacked the moment they were allowed to – Mikkel Honore (EF Education EasyPost), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) – and were soon joined by Ewen Costiou (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani-Faizane).

The quartet rode strongly but were never going to be allowed more than around 30 seconds and when the sprinters decided their time in the sun was over, 13km from the end of the race, they were reabsorbed into the bunch. A kilometre before that saw a crash involving Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), 10th place on GC, which caused the other general classification teams to surge to the front to ensure their own leaders would be safe.

The only other drama came when Milan suffered a mechanical with 9km to go and the sprint preparations underway. It seemed impossible he would make it back to the bunch, let alone where he needed to be to vie for the win, yet with a Herculean effort and his team’s help, he was able to. He did not have the legs to make a serious contest of it, however.

Movistar and Visma led it out around the last bend, with Merlier hanging back, even beyond the wheel of Milan. On the cobbled final straight, the Belgian came around on the left and dashed to the front right, across everyone, with 150m to go. Milan had enough in him to jump on the wheel for a few moments, but by the time he came back out into the wind the Soudal man had it sewn up by several bike lengths.

Merlier began his post-race interview with an apology to his team-mates for being unable to stay on their wheels in the closing kilometres.

“It was so hectic and I didn’t have the best legs,” he said. “We were together until 2km to go, so sorry. But I took the win for the team.”

He compared his sprint to that which he had practiced on Nokere Koerse, the cobbled classic he has won for each of the last three editions.

“I tried the same here and it worked. It was strange because everyone was already on the plane drinking beer yesterday, but then we had to race today. It was [still] a really nice victory.”

Pogacar topped the general classification by 9’56” from Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe), with Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) finishing third at 10’24”.

Asked afterwards to name his highlight from the race, Thomas replied: “Yesterday was a day to be proud of because I felt so bad. It was just a mental game. I was beating my head against a brick wall at times. I wouldn’t say it was enjoyable. Today is the most enjoyable day.”

Next up for Pogacar is the Tour de France, which begins in Florence on June 29.