Tadej Pogacar seals sensational Giro d'Italia stage win and again extends overall lead

UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar produced a devastating performance to win Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia and extend his overall lead by more than three minutes.

The Slovenian had been the dominant force going into Sunday's 222-kilometre run from Manerba del Garda to Livigno and he obliterated his general classification rivals with a memorable ride that means the race is now his to lose with six stages remaining.

Having extended his lead on Saturday in a time-trial, this fresh triumph elevates him to overwhelming favourite after a day on which the men closest to him in the rankings had no answers.

Pogacar underlined his climbing credentials in the Italian Alps in what is the longest and arguably toughest stage of the race, which involved an altitude gain of 5,400 metres.

The two-time Tour de France winner attacked on the climb and chased down leader Nairo Quintana and overtook the Colombian with 1.9km to go before winning his fourth stage of this year's race by 29 seconds.

“I was angry with him,” joked Pogacar about the veteran Colombian. “This is a guy who never attacked and I was thinking why is he attacking now.”

Quintana, who won the 2014 Giro, finished second with Georg Steinhauser third, more than two and a half minutes behind the winner.

Pogacar is now a huge six minutes 41 seconds ahead of Ineos Grenadiers rider Geraint Thomas with Bora-Hansgrohe's Dani Martinez a further 15 second back with one week to go.