The second place of UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar in the ITT Castiglione delle Stiviere-Desenzano del Garda (31.2 km), on Saturday, 29” behind the winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) saw the Slovenian take important gains in the GC battle.

Pogačar covered the course in 35’31” (average speed 52.708 km/h), putting in a very good performance that allowed him to be 45” faster than Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) and 1’16” more than Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe). Now after stage 14, Pogačar has an advantage of 3’41” on Thomas and 3’56” on Martinez.

The UAE Team Emirates’ captain sprang out fast from the start, marking the best performance at the first time point. Then, thanks to a very efficient pace, he succeeded in limiting the gap from a top time trialist such as Filippo Ganna, who could exploit his power on the flat roads of the second part of the course.

Pogačar said, “I pushed hard in the first part of the course which was up and down, and I really enjoyed it. The last part didn’t suit me quite as well and lost a bit of time there, but that was to be expected. I kept a good pace without killing myself though I was aiming for the win. But Ganna was that bit stronger, so I’m happy for him, he deserved it. Tomorrow is a big day, the queen stage. We can be confident, the team is strong, and we’ll give it a good shot.”

Stage 15 (222 km) will be very demanding: after the start from Manerba del Garda, the riders will climb the Lodrino (3rd category), the Colle di san Zeno (2nd category), the Mortirolo (1st category), the Passo del Foscagno (1st category) and the summit finish of the Mottolino (1st category).