On a day Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) won the queen stage in the Dolomites and the superb Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) finished second for the fourth time in this Giro, Primoz Roglic’s last-ditch attack on the iconic climb of Tre Cima di Lavaredo saw him claw back three seconds on race leader Geraint Thomas to set up a thrilling showdown on Saturday.
Welsh veteran Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) will enter the decisive 18.6km uphill time trial on the fearsome Monte Lussari with an advantage of 26 seconds on Slovenia’s Roglic (Jumbo Visma) in a winner-takes-all scenario for the climax of the 106th edition of the Giro.
Ad The third man on the podium – Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) – found himself distanced on the fifth and final climb of the 187km stage in the Dolomites.
The race’s best young rider now finds himself 59 seconds behind Thomas ahead of a race against the clock on a climb boasting steeper gradients than the legendary Monte Zoncolan.