Pogacar has more trouble with fans than rivals on Monte Grappa: Arensman and Bardet hit their limits

While the first two weeks of the Giro d'Italia featured pleasant weather, the third week was largely devoid of it. On Saturday, the riders once again faced heavy rain at the start, leading them to wear plenty of clothing. Despite Pogacar's pink jersey being secure, there was still much at stake, so many riders started with confidence.

The rest of the peloton also took Pogacar's words to heart, as there was less enthusiasm for an early breakaway on this Saturday. Several teams tried, and eventually, a group of eleven riders broke away after a few attempts.

Who are we talking about? Nicola Conci, Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Davide Ballerini, Henok Mulubrhan (Astana), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R), Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) and Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané).

In the peloton, UAE-Team Emirates let the gap rise to four minutes before deploying Rui Oliveira and Juan Sebastian Molano to keep it in check. Meanwhile, Pogacar dropped behind the peloton for a very noticeable reason: there was no sunscreen in the team car, so he had to stop by the medical car.

Anyway, all jokes aside: heading towards the first ascent of Monte Grappa, UAE-Team Emirates took even firmer control of the race. Mikkel Bjerg, Vegard Stake Laengen and Domen Novak were tasked with the monster climb and did their job well: by the top, only about 25 riders remained, with Filippo Zana being the biggest casualty. The number nine in the GC had to drop back early.

Giulio Pellizzari, representing VF Group - Bardiani CSF-Faizane, managed to bridge the gap to the breakaway and was the first to summit, claiming second place in the mountain classification, behind Pogacar. The Italian, along with Tonelli, Sanchez and Janssens, dove into the descent with a one-minute lead over the peloton.

During the descent, Pellizzari, Tonelli and Sanchez extended their lead to 2.30 minutes, which was a significant advantage heading into the second Monte Grappa climb. UAE-Team Emirates noticed this, and the key domestiques took their turns hammering ahead at full speed with the goal of launching Pogacar. The first casualties, after Zana, were Davide Piganzoli (Polti-Kometa) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana), who were eleventh and thirteenth in the general classification.

Pellizzari held on firmly, prompting Pogacar to instruct his teammates to increase the pace. This acceleration was too much for Romain Bardet, representing dsm-firmenich PostNL and seventh in the general classification. He hit his limit and quickly lost considerable time to the remaining contenders.

At 6.5 kilometers from the summit, Rafal Majka took over from Domen Novak, significantly closing the gap to the front. The Pole added an extra burst, dropping Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R), Thymen Arensman and eventually Geraint Thomas of INEOS Grenadiers. Left in the front group were Pogacar, Daniel Felipe Martínez (BORA-hansgrohe), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Einer Rubio of Movistar.

Not for long, as five kilometers from the summit, Pogacar launched his devastating attack. The Slovenian rode straight to Pellizzari, made an angry gesture at a fan who touched him, and beckoned Pellizzari as he passed. Behind him, Tiberi, Martinez and Rubio remained, while Arensman struggled. He couldn't follow the group with Thomas and O'Connor, who in turn kept Martínez and company in sight.

With a two-minute lead, Pogacar crested the top, while everything behind him remained status quo. Except for Bardet and Zana, everything stayed relatively close, so we descended towards Bassano del Grappa in equal stride, aside from an acceleration by Martínez. There, Pogacar could celebrate his sixth stage victory of this Giro d'Italia after giving a young fan a water bottle. Behind him, everyone crossed the line in the same positions, except for Arensman – who retained sixth place – and Bardet.