Giro d’Italia 2024: Can Geraint Thomas stop the mighty Tadej Pogacar?

Last achieved by Italy’s Marco Pantani in 1998, doing the ultimate Grand Tour double has eluded a few generations of greats since.

It seemed an unlikely dream this year thanks to the presence of Pogacar’s only rival for supremacy, Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark – last year’s Tour winner by more than seven minutes following Pogacar’s capitulation following an early season of success and subsequent injury during the spring classics.

However, in April, Vingegaard was injured in a freak crash at a race in northern Spain which left him with a broken collarbone, punctured lung and a great deal of uncertainty whether he would be fit for the Tour at the end of June.

“I watched [the crash] live. It was horrific, really terrible to see,” says Pogacar, 25.

With Vingegaard’s awful luck, UAE-Team Emirates’ Pogacar becomes favourite for the Tour. As for the Giro? He should win it at a canter.

Of the 10 races or stages he has started this year, Pogacar has won a staggering six – and the way he has done so has stunned the sport.

In March, before the tough one-day classic Strade Bianche – a 215km race encompassing the loose, chalky roads of Tuscany – he was asked about his plan to win.

At a time when riders are understandably cagey about their intentions, he simply stated: “With 80km to go, I will attack.”

He did exactly that, and not one of the 200-odd riders could get near him.

He has done pretty much the same in every race in 2024, most recently at the brutal one-day ‘monument’ classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

An assumption he will dominate this race is made by all, purely on form, but this irked Pogacar before this race.

“I think it is disrespectful to the other riders. We’re not so much different on the climbs,” he said.

But he eventually conceded that his dominance of so many races draws certain expectations, adding: “I don’t know, maybe it’s a bit my fault.”