- Fury expects to knock out Usyk in heavyweight title rematch
- Georgia ruling party stages mass rally ahead of key vote
- Attack kills 4, injures 14 at Turkey defence firm
- Another French top pick: Zaccharie Risacher starts life in the NBA
- EU chief starts Balkans tour, says enlargement 'top priority'
- Destitute Gazans cold 'every night' as winter approaches
- Asalanka stars as Sri Lanka defeat West Indies in second ODI, clinch series
- 'The whole city shook': Israel pounds Lebanon's ancient Tyre
- Belarus to hold presidential vote on January 26
- BHP denies responsibility for 2015 Brazil mine disaster at London trial
- Lagarde says ECB should be careful with rise in emerging currencies
- Shiffrin to skip downhill, no stress over landmark World Cup victories
- US says N.Korea sent 'thousands' of troops to Russia
- Emery already one of 'Villa's greats', says McGinn
- 4 dead, 14 hurt in attack at Turkey defence firm
- Activists take German government to court over biodiversity
- US existing home sales slip in September to near 14-year low
- Bank of Canada cuts rates, says fight against inflation 'worked'
- Zimbabwe smash T20I record with 344-4 against Gambia
- Boeing reports $6.2 bn loss as it awaits vote on end to strike
- Mourinho says Man Utd 'will succeed sooner or later'
- China should use fiscal policy to boost growth: IMF
- Wolfspeed and ZF put German chip factory on ice
- Putin faces calls for peace at flagship BRICS summit
- Stock markets and oil prices retreat
- Dupont back in France squad for November internationals
- Caelan Doris to captain Ireland in November rugby Tests
- 14 dead, thousands evacuated as tropical storm batters Philippines
- Boeing reports $6.2 bn loss on strike, defense contract woes
- Germany's Scholz heads to India despite differences on Russia
- Sri Lanka deploys troops to Jewish community centre after US warning
- Sione Tuipulotu named as Scotland captain for November internationals
- 'I'm broken', mass rape victim tells French court
- Don't let tech gurus decide the future: Nobel winner Simon Johnson
- Palestinian seeds join Arctic 'doomsday vault'
- Ariana Grande concert attack survivors win UK harassment case
- Blinken on new quest for Saudi ties with Israel
- UK and Germany sign 'milestone' defence deal
- Seoul says N.Korea sent more troops to Russia, Kyiv urges their surrender
- Mehidy, Jaker keep Bangladesh alive against South Africa
- Stock markets mixed, oil prices drop
- Stokes forecasts spin battle in Pakistan-England decider
- Volvo Cars cuts sales forecast on market headwinds
- South Africa 'shattered' by divorce of rugby star Kolisi
- Putin touts 'multipolar world order' at flagship BRICS summit
- Deutsche Bank profits boosted by legal settlements
- WHO says 'intense bombardment' halts Gaza polio vaccinations
- UK's Starmer plays down Trump team claims of interference
- Son of Singapore's founder granted asylum in UK
- Mehidy, Jaker take Bangladesh into lead over South Africa in Test
CMSC | -0.47% | 24.62 | $ | |
BCC | 0.05% | 133.715 | $ | |
GSK | -0.44% | 37.835 | $ | |
AZN | -0.83% | 76.68 | $ | |
SCS | -2.97% | 12.44 | $ | |
RIO | -1.77% | 64.34 | $ | |
NGG | -0.15% | 66.19 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.77% | 24.74 | $ | |
BTI | -0.82% | 34.605 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.96% | 7.29 | $ | |
RBGPF | 1.59% | 63 | $ | |
JRI | -0.49% | 13.006 | $ | |
BCE | -0.73% | 33.08 | $ | |
RELX | -0.41% | 46.83 | $ | |
VOD | -1.06% | 9.45 | $ | |
BP | -1.45% | 31.13 | $ |
Peerless Pogacar wins Giro d'Italia, next stop Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, crossing the finish line in Rome in glorious sunshine and with the biggest winning margin in almost six decades.
The 25-year-old UAE Emirates rider won six of the 21 stages on the 3,400km tour that began in Turin, finishing 9min 56sec ahead of Colombia's Daniel Martinez of Bora while Geraint Thomas of Ineos was 10min 24sec off the winning pace in third.
The overall triumph was sealed Sunday on the 21st stage around Rome, which was won by Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier, who picked up his third stage win of the 2024 Giro.
Billed as a champion in waiting, Pogacar proved peerless taking the lead as early as stage two and rampaging across the peaks, plains and picturesque panoramas to triumph by the largest margin at any of cycling's grand tours since Vittorio Adorni won the Giro by 11min 26sec in 1965.
The swashbuckling Slovenian showman was decked out in the iconic pink leader's jersey, riding a pink bike and even arriving on a pink bus as the route raced south.
Hoping to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France since Marco Pantani in 1998, Pogacar resembled more another rider, Eddy Merckx, also known for wanting to win as many stages as possible.
He won the opening time-trial, and the following day's first major summit finish and would go on to romp home on the Queen stage in the Dolomites, doubling his lead in the process.
Italians took to Pogacar, cheering him through the dramatic port of Genoa, the chic Tuscan town of Lucca and the southern port of Naples and Pompei in the shadow of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius.
The two-time Tour de France winner had extended his lead slowly up the Adriatic coastline before the third week's relentless series of ascents and descents in the Alps.
- Out to prove Merckx wrong -
Should Pogacar pull off the ambitious Giro-Tour double he will join a list of legends in Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, Miguel Indurain and Pantani.
Pogacar burst onto the scene winning three stages at the Vuelta a Espana in 2019 and coming third.
The following year he pulled off one of cycling's biggest ever surprises when he overhauled a 90-second gap on Primoz Roglic to take the lead at the very end of the Tour de France in 2020.
In 2021, Pogacar dominated the Tour to claim back-to-back triumphs, before a rival emerged in the form of Danish Visma rider Jonas Vingegaard.
The wispy Dane has dominated Pogacar on the very toughest mountain stages, allowing Pogacar to tack up the stage wins as he himself remained firmly focussed on the overall.
Merckx stated in 2023 that for now the Dane was the best Grand Tour rider, but Vingegaard is scrambling to achieve top fitness for the Tour de France after a nasty crash at the Tour of the Basque Country.
While Pogacar had no visible rival at the Giro, Vingegaard will be just one hazard to watch out for on the French roads, with Belgian maverick Remco Evenepoel, Colombian climber Egan Bernal and old foe Roglic all muddying the waters on a wide-open roster ripe for surprises this July.
L.Harper--AMWN