News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com – should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.
Tadej Pogačar has already won the Giro d’Italia, barring major incident or injury, it is not an exaggeration to say. The UAE Team Emirates rider has a lead of 6:41 over second-placed Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). He could ride defensively for six more stages and still come away with one of the most dominant wins of the modern era. He could probably do this and still win some stages, such is his speed at the end of climbing days.
The Slovenian leads the GC, obviously. He leads the King of the Mountains competition by a handsome margin, mocking those who are targeting it specifically, and is even sixth in the points competition, without even trying for that. He’s only not a feature in the young rider classification any more because he has finally turned 25.
However, despite this domination of the race – and it is a domination, with four stage wins in the first 15 stages of his debut Giro – there is one competition that he will not win. In fact, he will not even feature in it.
With this Giro d’Italia all but sewn up, perhaps it is time to focus on the real quiz. I hate to get all Chris Finch in The Office, but the real quiz at the Giro is the Intergiro competition. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané) is winning the Integiro competition at the 2024 Giro, what have you done?
For the uninitiated, the Intergiro is effectively a race within a race, a classification providing an opportunity for those who aren’t necessarily super-sprinters or climbers to vie for victory.
Acting like a mini-GC, there has been an Intergiro arch midway through each stage (apart from time trials), acting as a finish line for riders for the Intergiro. The first eight riders through gain points from 12 down to one for the Intergiro, as well as 3, 2 and 1 seconds for the overall GC.
On top of that (yes, there’s more) the first eight riders gain the same points – from 12 down to one – for the points classification. This should make it, slightly confusingly, a tempting target for riders vying for that ciclamino points jersey.
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The Giro describes it as “a special points ranking. It will spice things up during the intermediate sections of the race”.
And boy, have things been spiced up. Who could forget the tussle that Fiorelli has had with other members of the top ten like Andrea Pietrobon (Polti Kometa) and Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) for those precious Intergiro points.
Fiorelli has 41 points, with Kade Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), an actual sprinter, four points behind, which feels a bit cheeky.
Now the race for pink is pretty much over, perhaps it’s time we all got behind the action in the Intergiro. All those of you with Fiorelli leanings should declare them now, loudly, or if you’re a Pietrobon fan, you’d better hope he gets up the road in this last week.
It’s all worth it, though, because the winner of the Intergiro will receive a cash prize, a safe driving course courtesy of classification sponsor Sara Assicurazioni, and a flower-shaped trophy in the form of the same company’s tulip-esque logo.
Who wouldn’t want to win that? Of course, there is intrigue in every stage, and the battle for the podium placings between Thomas, Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) looks like it will go to the wire, but why not focus on the lesser stars of the peloton.
This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
