Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) added a third victory to his Giro d'Italia tally, triumphing atop the Prati di Tivo on stage eight, just 24 hours after winning the individual time trial.
The race leader was the fastest in a mountaintop bunch sprint, kicking ahead of his GC rivals with 200m to go. Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished second, tightening his grip on second place overall, with Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) crossing the line in third.
With the bonus seconds accounted for, Pogačar gained four seconds on Martínez, and now leads the race by two minutes and 40 seconds.
"I was not expecting it at all today," the Slovenian said of his victory afterwards. "As a team, we rode super-well from the beginning. We came with a good time gap on the last climb, and the team did a super-good job to the finish."
From the gun, UAE Team Emirates refused to give the breakaway breathing space. "My team-mates wanted to go for the stage win as soon as we survived the first, long categorised climb," Pogačar said. "Mikkel [Bjerg] came back to the bunch, and he was all in for chasing the group in front.
"At the bottom [of the final climb], when I saw our guys were still good – Domen [Novak], Felix [Großschartner] and Rafał [Majka] – I was confident that we could win today."
In the final two kilometres, Pogačar latched easily onto attacks from Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), always with the stage win in mind. "I had it more or less under control," he said, "and Rafa helped me so much in the last couple of kilometres. It was super-good.”
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) finished fifth on the stage, in a group two seconds behind the front three. He is still in third, now 18 seconds down on Martínez.
How it happened
Uphill from the flag drop, stage eight brought the first real mountains test for the Giro d'Italia peloton. The route was just 152km in length, but counted a total elevation of 3,850m, and the race's second summit finish.
A chaotic start meant it took 53km for the breakaway to finally settle down. It was composed of 14 riders, notably Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL), the highest placed of the escapees in the general classification, five minutes and 23 seconds down.
The front group was kept on a tight leash throughout the day. Whether it was Bardet’s alarming presence, or Pogačar's desire to win a third stage, UAE Team Emirates held the gap below two minutes at all times. By the time the breakaway reached the foot of the final climb, with 15km to go, their lead had been slashed to 36 seconds.
There, on the Prati di Tivo, the 14-strong group began to flake away. Sensing its demise, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) launched a plucky attack, but was swallowed up with 4km to go, the last survivor of the early move.
Majka then took up the charge for UAE Team Emirates. Pogačar's team had gradually whittled down the peloton to just the GC contenders, and the race leader patrolled the pack from the front.
The minutes drew out as the summit approached, and still nobody attacked. Tiberi then drew first blood inside 2km to go, but Pogačar would not let him get away. The same applied to Arensman, whose move was also quashed by the pink jersey.
500m from the line, Majka reappeared on the front, this time swapping duties from mountain domestique to lead-out man. The Polish rider steered Pogačar to the head of the pack, where he launched a stinging sprint, repeating his Prati di Tivo success from the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico, and claiming a third win in eight days.
"I hope it’s a relaxing day," Pogačar said afterwards, looking forward to Sunday's ninth stage. "There's going to still be some nerves. We need to be focused until the end of tomorrow, then I think it's a rest day, no? I cannot wait."
Results
Giro d'Italia 2024, stage eight: Spoleto > Prati di Tivo (152km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 4-02-16
2. Dani Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, both at same time
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +2s
5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
6. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar
7. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +11s
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +13s
10. Alex Baudin (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +21s
General classification after stage eight
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 28:14:42
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +2-40
3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +2-58
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +3-39
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4-02
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +4-23
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +5-15
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +5-28
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +5-30
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +5-53
