Tadej Pogacar won stage eight of the Giro d’Italia with a superb performance on the 152km ride from Spoleto to Prati di Tivo, extending his lead with his 10th victory of the season to retain the maglia rosa. The Slovenian UAE Team Emirates rider dominated once again on a tough mountain route which had a total altitude gain of 3,850 metres, coming out on top on the 15km climb to Prati di Tivo.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) had raced ahead of the peloton in a brave effort to break away until he was caught four kilometres from the finish, before UAE Team Emirates looked to dictate the pace on the final stages of the climb.

Rafal Majka has sought to set up Pogacar for the win but Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) had other ideas as both tried to attack. Pogacar stayed on their heels, however, before he surged ahead on the final sprint to the finish to take the stage after more than four hours of racing.

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Daniel Martínez, second in the overall standings, came home as the stage runner-up for Bora-Hansgrohe, while Ben O’Connor was third for AG2R La Mondiale. The Australian is fourth in the general classification, three minutes and 39 seconds behind Geraint Thomas, who is 2min 58sec behind Pogacar, who said: “I was not expecting to win at all today. But as a team we rode super well from the beginning.” He now has a lead of 2min 40sec in the general classification. Stage nine is a 214km run from Avezzano to Naples before the race’s first rest day on Monday.

Source: theguardian.com