Giro d’Italia 2024 Stage 8 recap – Tadej Pogacar wins again at Prati di Tivo to extend lead

It's not categorised but it will certainly act as a springboard for the breakaway today. That first move came to nothing and Soudal QuickStep pair Julian Alaphilippe and Mauri Vansevenant have both been active. Poor Domenico Pozzovivo had an early mechanical issue, while we're not yet sure if Honore is back on his bike following his crash.

Mikkel Honore (EF Education-EasyPost) hits the deck after a touch of wheels at the back of the pack - just as one of his team-mates Stefan De Bod kicks clear on the front. Jan Tratnik of Visma is also on the move along with Martin Marcellusi and Mattia Bais.

The flag goes down and the race is on. Attacks rain down from the outset as the UAE team-mates of Tadej Pogacar marshal the front of the peloton watching like eagles.

The European champion Christophe Laporte crashed badly ahead of the intermediate sprint three days ago and had been fighting a losing battle with fitness ever since. He becomes the second Visma-Lease a Bike rider to withdraw after Robert Gesink, leaving the team - which has Cian Uijtdebroeks riding for the GC and Olav Kooij seeking sprint wins - rather threadbare. So much bad luck this year for the team that won all three Grand Tours last year.

The sun is out and the riders are on the move, soft-pedalling through the beautiful streets of Spoleto as they embark on the 6.6km neutral zone ahead of official start. Today's stage is short but it's going to be intense. Bring it on!

One day after the ITT, almost 4,000m of vertical ascent awaits the peloton on this short but never flat raid through the Apennines that culminates with the race’s second summit finish. An early uncategorised climb after the race rolls out of Spoleto should ensure fireworks from the outset, with the Cat. 2 climb to Forca Capistrello (16.3km at 5.6%) likely to cause early splits on ramps that hit 12%.

Rolling roads and at least three uncategorised tests precede a two-climb finale which was used in Stage 3 of April’s Giro d’Abruzzo, where Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko got the better of three UAE Team Emirates riders to take the win and the leader’s blue jersey.

The Cat. 3 Croce Abbio is followed by a whopping 25km descent to the foot of Prati di Tivo, a 14.6km Cat. 1 test with an average gradient of 7% and maximum ramps of 12%. Only used once before in the Giro, the Prati di Tivo played host to the first big win of Giovanni Battaglin’s career in 1975. More recently, Tadej Pogacar soloed to victory on the mountain in the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico – setting a climbing record since broken by Lutsenko. That ball is back in your court, Tadej…

Colombia’s Dani Martinez recovered in yesterday’s time trial with a stellar performance on the final climb into Perugia to wipe out most of his losses on the flat section. Coupled with a poor performance – by his standards – by Welshman Geraint Thomas, Martinez is now up to second place in the standings, 2:36 down on Pogacar. Thomas is 10 seconds back in third, with the top five now completed by Australians Ben O’Connor and Luke Plapp. A whopping 4:44 separates Pogacar in first and Lorenzo Fortunato in tenth.

After brutalising the field in yesterday’s time trial, Tadej Pogacar heads into the first major summit finish of the Giro with over two and a half minutes on his closest rival. Today’s stage features three categorised climbs including a summit finish where the Slovenian won in the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico. He could put the race well and truly to bed – or perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for some of the other GC favourites to put the pink jersey under pressure. Stay tuned for fireworks in the Apennines!