The race within a race and Pogačar domination - 5 things we learned from the second week of the Giro d’Italia

On Sunday, Tadej Pogačar’s onslaught in the Giro d’Italia continued as he built an almost untouchable advantage in the general classification battle by winning stage 15 in Livigno. 

The Slovenian now leads Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) by almost seven minutes, and that could well increase further in the coming days with more mountain stages to come. 

Pogačar was on another level as he hammered on the pedals as he continued on his path to cycling immortality. 

Away from his exploits in the the pink jersey, here are our five other takeaways from the second week of action at the Italian Grand Tour. 

Could Julian Alaphilippe ride the Tour?  

Julian Alaphilippe’s solo breakaway victory last Thursday captured the hearts of many cycling fans across the world. 

The former two-time road world champion spent a long day in the breakaway on the hilly stage 12 alongside Polti-Kometa’s Mirco Maestri as he went in search of his first WorldTour win in months. After he then dropped Maestri on the day’s final climb, Alaphilippe soloed to the line to take a memorable win. 

Alaphilippe was initially just scheduled to ride the Giro this year but, according to reports, that could now be about to change. 

L’Equipe reported late last week that Remco Evenepoel, Soudal Quick-Step’s great hope for overall victory at the Tour de France this July, has led the push for the 31-year-old to be included in the Belgian team’s Tour squad this summer. 

After months of misfortune, that would be some turnaround for Alaphilippe indeed. 

Milan is comfortably the best sprinter at the race 

Last week, we predicted that the sprint stages would continue to be the most competitive part of this Giro after the opening week saw multiple sprinters come out on top. 

But seven days on, we now know that barring any major incident or disaster in the final week, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) will almost certainly run out the winner in the sprinter's competition. 

The Italian added two more victories to his tally last week and now has three wins to his name in this year’s Giro and has a comfortable lead in the ciclamino jersey competition. While Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) was forced out of the race with illness last week, but it is hard to see anyone being able to match Milan’s power and strength in the closing metres of the flatter stages. 

In this kind of form, Milan would be a decent bet to triumph on the final day in Rome and add a fourth stage to his tally. 

The other GC contenders are in a race of their own

UAE Team Emirates won’t want to jump the gun a week early, but Tadej Pogačar’s team will be extremely confident that their man can get the job done and lift the Giro d’Italia trophy in Rome. 

Pogačar has been on another planet throughout the entire Giro. The queen stage to Livigno simply underlined that fact. 

Barring Jhonatan Narváez’s impressive effort on the opening day in Turin, few other riders have been able to live with the Slovenian once the road has gone uphill during the race and the rest of the podium contenders seem resigned to the fact that they cannot compete with him. 

Rather than blowing up, similarly to Ben O’Connor on the stage to Santuario di Oropa, the likes of Thomas have instead preferred to focus on their own pace and rhythm and consolidate their spot on the podium, as the Welshman did on the road to Livigno.  

Breakaway opportunities evaporate

As is the nature with men’s professional cycling, every superior performance in a Grand Tour setting nearly always draws comparisons with Eddy Merckx, otherwise known as the cannibal. 

Few riders can lay claim to being a worthy successor to the Belgian legend, although Tadej Pogačar’s insistence on winning as many stages possible during this Giro means he is probably the only one that genuinely can match Merckx. 

The Slovenian’s aggressive racing has laid waste to any opportunity of a breakaway win on several stages during this race and could continue into the final week. Pogačar seems to want to carve out one of the largest winning margins that the Giro has ever seen, and the four additional mountain stages in the third week are the perfect place to build that. 

Alaphilippe’s breakaway win in Fano could have been the final time we were treated to an unexpected victory during this race. 

Pogačar's win at all costs mentality will continue 

During the opening week of the race, Pogačar spoke of his willingness to win as many stages as possible during this Giro in order to pay back UAE Team Emirates. He made clear that the frustrations of other riders at him snapping up opportunities for them wouldn’t derail that goal. 

The two summit finishes, as well as the penultimate day with its double ascent of Monte Grappa, could see him on the attack once more. 

Pogačar regularly highlighted the race’s queen stage to Livigno as one that he particularly wanted to win, as he has often done with other iconic stages and one day races. After now achieving that, it’s hard to imagine him simply lying low for an entire week between now and lifting the trophy in Rome. 

Expect to see him going for glory on the slopes of Monte Grappa.