Pogacar cruises to Giro d’Italia title

Slovenian rider now looks to win his 3rd Tour de France.

ROME — Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia on Sunday with the race’s biggest margin of victory in nearly six decades — earning a third Grand Tour trophy to go with his two Tour de France titles.

Pogacar, riding a pink bike to go with his pink jersey, shorts and helmet, crossed safely in the main pack to conclude the mostly ceremonial final stage of the three- week race, ending with an advantage of nearly 10 minutes over runner- up Daniel Martinez.

Geraint Thomas finished third overall, more than 10 minutes behind. The last time there was a bigger margin of victory in the Giro came in 1965, when Vittorio Adorni won by more than 11 minutes.

Pogacar, a Slovenian who rides for UAE Team Emirates, also won six stages in the race, the most since Eddy Merckx won six in 1973. Now Pogacar will attempt to rest and recover in time to make an attempt at winning his third Tour title, with cycling’s biggest race starting June 29 with four stages in Italy.

Pogacar will attempt to become the first rider to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year since Marco Pantani in 1998.

Belgian rider Tim Merlier won the final stage in a sprint ahead of Jonathan Milan by the Colosseum. Milan, the Italian sprinter who won three stages in the race, had a mechanical issue and needed to change his bike at the start of the last lap. He then managed to catch up with the main pack and almost grabbed another victory.

The 78- mile, mostly flat final stage finished with a circuit through the center of the capital that was completed eight times, taking riders past the Baths of Caracalla, the Roman Forum, the Tiber River and the Circus Maximus before the finish on cobblestones near the Arch of Constantine.

Pogacar entered the Giro for the first time this year and made an immediate impact. He finished second in the opening stage in Turin and gained time on almost all of his direct rivals. He won the second stage, grabbed the leader’s pink jersey and kept on increasing his advantage day after day.

Pogacar won the Tour in 2020 and ’ 21 and finished second behind Jonas Vingegaard in 2022 and ’ 23. Vingegaard is hoping to defend his Tour title despite a crash in April that left him with several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

ANDREW MEDICHINI/ ASSOCIATED PRESS Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia in his first attempt at the race. He won six of the 21 individual stages and was the overall leader after the second stage. His final margin over the rest of the field was almost 10 minutes.