Tadej Pogacar ensured he will win the Giro d’Italia in a style reminiscent of cycling icon Eddy Merckx, blowing away the competition in Saturday’s mountainous penultimate stage.Riding a bright pink bike to match the leader’s jersey he has held since the second stage, Pogacar surged away on the punishing Monte Grappa climb to claim his sixth win in his debut Giro, matching the tally by Merckx, another non-sprinter, in 1973.The UAE rider holds a nine-minute 56 second lead over Daniel Martinez and will be crowned champion at the end of today’s procession around Rome unless an unprecedented disaster strikes in the Italian capital. "We did a perfect job as a team today,” said Pogacar. "I’m so happy that I got a big enough gap on the top that I didn’t need to go full gas on the downhill. I cannot describe how I was feeling with all the fans on the climb.”The way Pogacar has pulverised the competition suggests he can become the first man since the late Marco Pantani to achieve the elusive Giro-Tour de France double.Only seven riders have won cycling’s two biggest three-week Grand Tours in the same year, with tragic Pantani doing it in 1998, the year Pogacar was born."We wanted the pink jersey from stage two,” added Pogacar. "It just goes to show today is another test before the summer (and the Tour) to see how it is. I wanted to finish Giro with a good mentality, in good shape, and I think I achieved that.”
May 26, 2024 | 12:18 AM