Giro d'Italia: Primoz Roglic shrugs off mechanical to snatch pink jersey from Geraint Thomas

Updated 27/05/2023 at 19:31 GMT

The decisive time trial at the 2023 Giro d'Italia was won by Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and his brilliant ride was enough to take the leader's pink jersey off the shoulders of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). It was heartbreaking for Thomas, but Roglic overcame a dropped chain up the punishing climb of the individual time trial to claim the win.

Highlights from Stage 20 of Giro as Roglic storms to victory to take pink jersey from Thomas

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) overcame a mechanical problem on the upper slopes of Monte Lussari to rip the pink jersey off the shoulders of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) at the final opportunity in the Giro d’Italia.

Despite his chain coming off some 10 minutes from the finish line, Slovenian Roglic was able to take the stage win by 40 seconds from second-place Thomas and turn a 26-second deficit into a 14-second lead in the general classification.

With one day to go, a largely processional sprint stage through the streets of Rome, Roglic is all but certain to be crowned Giro d'Italia champion on Sunday.

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The penultimate day time trial was unorthodox in a number of ways. The 7.5km Monte Lussari climb to the finish meant the stage favoured lightweight general classification riders over true time trial specialists, and meant all but a few riders would switch to their regular, lightweight road bikes before the course kicked up.

Rules, communicated late to press and team, meant the change needed to be completed before the end of a strictly designated 25-metre section.

The climb itself did not permit cars themselves to follow the riders, which meant support could only come from a single team helper riding as passenger, shouldering a spare bike.

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With only a limited number of motorbikes available, and space at the top to host them, riders set off in three waves, to allow all the vehicles to return down the mountain to the stage start.

All of which added up to an early kick-off and a late final whistle.

With the riders setting out in reverse general classification order, the first riders to roll were never likely to challenge for the stage victory. Incumbent maglia nera, or last place rider, Nicolas Dalla Valle (Corratec Selle Italia) was the first out, the first to test the concept of the bike change and first to ride onto the narrow rough surface of the Lussari.

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Large time gaps were expected between the best and worst on the stage, so the usual 30% time cut was extended to 50%, to make it likely that every remaining rider would make it to Rome.

Dalla Valle put in a proper effort to set a respectable first fastest time. Other riders, including Astana's Mark Cavendish, made the most of the bigger buffer, to take it relatively easy, and enjoy the atmosphere on the way to the top.

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Filippo Fiorelli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) set the first true benchmark with a time that would eventually be good enough for 50th place, before giving way to Thibault Guernalec (Team Arkéa Samsic) who went two minutes quicker in 48'35", which would see him hold the hot seat into the second wave.

The second set of riders saw some talented breakaway artists try their luck on the climb, as first Ben Healy (EF Education First) and then Will Barta (Movistar) showed strong hands at the first split.

It was a lesser spoken of American, Matthew Riccitello (Israel PremierTech) who would take a surprise turn in the hotseat, however. He was 42 seconds slower than Barta at the first intermediate split, but Riccitello found almost three minutes on the climb itself to take the lead at the summit by 1'57" from Thomas Champion (Cofidis) at the close of the second wave.

The big names came out firing in the final act of the day. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) set a new fastest first split, before being immediately beaten by team-mate Brandon McNulty by a handful of seconds. And it was McNulty who would land in the coveted hotseat before it was time for the top 15 riders on the general classification, starting at three-minute intervals, to hit the road.

Roglic's team-mate Sepp Kuss began and finished strongly, as well as executing an impressive middle section that would ensure he dislodged McNulty. By the time he did, however, all eyes would be on the top three, as they set out on the ride of their lives.

Each of Joao Almeida, Roglic and Thomas showed on the first half of the ride - in terms of distance - why they occupied those positions, beating everyone before them onto the Monte Lussari with its average gradient of 12.2% and maximum of 22%.

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Roglic held the most slender of leads into the first time check, and piled the pressure on his rival Thomas up the punishing Monte Lussari climb.

The Slovenian, roared on by the masses of support on the mountainside, then extended his lead over Thomas to 16 seconds halfway up the climb.

His cadence suggested Roglic was comfortable and riding into pink when he crossed a drainage gully and dropped his chain.

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Brought to a standstill, Roglic got the chain back on but lost time and momentum.

Roglic regrouped and rallied to finally stop the clock at 44’23''. Thomas, in contrast, struggled towards the top; his legs looked laboured. The Welshman managed to hold on to claim second place on the stage, but not enough to retain the race lead. Roglic will wear the maglia rosa for just the final stage, which will be largely a processional one.

"I dropped the chain," said Roglic afterwards. "These things happen. I put the chain back on and restarted. I had the legs and the people gave me extra watts."

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Thomas, for his part, was simultaneously magnanimous and devastated in defeat:

"I could feel my legs going 1.5km from the top of that climb. I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses but I just didn’t feel like I had that grunt. I guess it’s nice to lose by that much rather than a second or two. At least he smashed me. To be honest, Primoz deserves that. He had a mechanical and still put 40 seconds into me, so chapeau to him."

Almeida became the first Portuguese rider to achieve a podium in a Grand Tour since Joaquim Agostinho 34 years ago.

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