Giro d’Italia: Tadej Pogacar secures race win on debut as Geraint Thomas finishes third

Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia on his debut by completing a processional final stage through Rome on Sunday.

The Slovenian, who has two Tour de France victories, won six stages of the 21 in a dominant performance.

He finished nine minutes 56 seconds ahead of second placed Daniel Martinez of Colombia in the overall standings, with Britain’s Geraint Thomas 10 minutes 24 seconds behind the winner in third.

Pogacar had been in the leader’s pink jersey since victory on stage two and won by the biggest overall margin since 1965.

“I am speechless, it’s hard to describe this moment, it’s amazing,” said the 25-year-old.

“A lot of nice memories for sure, in a while I will see which one was the best moment but I think in general it was a really beautiful Giro.”

The final stage of 125km in Rome produced a frantic finish in which Tim Merlier beat Jonathan Milan, who had suffered a puncture with nine kilometres to go, in a sprint finish to claim a third stage win of the race.

Pogacar will now bid to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Giro and Tour de France, which starts on 29 June, in the same season.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard has won the last two editions of the Tour de France but his level of fitness is unclear following a crash in the Itzulia Basque Country race in April.