Giro d'Italia stage 20: Primož Roglič dominates mountain time trial

It all came down to this. The penultimate day individual time trial up the hideous Monte Lussari climb was the decider for this year’s Giro d’Italia.

18km against the clock with the final climb averaging 11.2%, with sustained pitches of over 15% is what the riders faced in the final GC battle, with only the processional stage around Rome tomorrow to finish the race.

It was a stage of three parts, with waves of riders setting off to stagger the riders coming back from the finish line in a cable car. Thibault Guernalec held the hot seat for a long time after posting the initial fastest time of the day.

Compatriot Thomas Champion then took the lead before American Matthew Riccitello. Jay Vine then took the lead but not for long as Brandon McNulty posted an impressive time. The Americans were on fire today as Sepp Kuss put in a huge ride to post the next best time.

Then it was time for the riders that everyone had been waiting for. Roglič was fastest of the favourites at the first time check, after having a good bike change and was 4 seconds up on maglia rosa Geraint Thomas, who was 26 seconds up on the Slovenian going into the stage. Thomas opted to change his helmet as well as his bike but was still showing good before the climb started.

Thibaut Pinot rode an incredible ride, quickly entering the hot seat, before Joao Almeida posted an even better one.

It was then down to the top two on GC to see who would be winning the Giro. Roglič was going around 10 seconds faster than Thomas on the road, spinning a very small gear with the MTB cassette fitted to his bike.

There was disaster a couple of km from the top however, as he dropped his chain over a hole in the road. He was quickly back on the bike but by this point, it was a few km too far for Thomas, who started to look tired. Roglič crossed the line a massive 42 seconds faster than Almeida and we then waited for the Pink Jersey to finish.

The last km seemed to go by painfully slowly for Thomas and we could see the clock ticking by. In the end, the Welshman finished the stage 40 seconds slower than Roglič, giving over the maglia rosa by just 14 seconds. Primoż Roglič wins his fourth Grand Tour and his first Giro d’Italia. He will take the maglia rosa into Rome tomorrow as the sprinters have their last time to shine.