Giro d’Italia 2024
Stage 21 – Roma > Roma (125km)
Sun 26th May | Scheduled start: 15:30 CET
Profile
Stage 20 Result
1st Tadej Pogačár (4/7F)
2nd Valentin Paret-Peintre (33/1)
3rd Dani Martínez (14/1)
4th Antonio Tiberi (33/1)
Stage 20 Bets
Romain Bardet 2pts each way (4 places) @20/1
Einer Rubio 1pt each way (4 places) @40/1 – 5th
Unlucky that. Pogačar was long gone but Rubio, along with Martínez and Tiberi, proved to be the strongest on the climb and looked set to place only to be caught on the descent and then outsprinted into fifth. Bardet was clearly on an off-day – there was no attack over the top on the first ascent of the Monte Grappa and daredevil descent to gap the field as hoped. Instead, he was dropped pretty swiftly the second time up. To Rome!
Stage 21 Preview
A quick trip to the sea before eight 9.5km laps of Rome for the final stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia. As always, it should end in a bunch finish, but with tired sprint teams a late attack that stays away can never be ruled out.
The final is quite technical – positioning will be crucial at a hairpin inside the last 2km before the road sweeps left then right for a cobblestoned sprint.
Stage 21 Contenders
Jonathan Milan (11/10; 2.10) has three stage wins and is safe in the ciclamino jersey. He didn’t go so well on the cobbles last year but he’s a better rider now with a slicker leadout.
Tim Merlier (7/4; 2.75) is a winning machine with nine in total this year already. Even when isolated and out of position he seems to find a way to either get up or go close and there’s nothing to assume that won’t be the case again here.
Kaden Groves (14/1; 15.0) is getting closer without quite getting his arms in the air. Alpecin-Decueninck will be all-in for him again and can hope that the gap to the top two is narrower after another hard day in the mountains.
Alberto Dainese (16/1; 17.0) has been there or thereabouts – can he get his annual Giro win at the last time of asking?
Juan Sebastián Molano (20/1; 21.0) may be rewarded with a deluxe leadout from Pogačar for his excellent domestique work, though let’s hope the pink jersey doesn’t end up on the deck. Molano won the last stage of the Vuelta a couple of years back so has history of coming good at the end of a Grand Tour.
Caleb Ewan (28/1; 29.0) hasn’t really managed to open up a full sprint due to his poor positioning. That might make him dangerous and the price is tempting, though Matt White said he was missing some top-end speed which isn’t ideal.
Filippo Ganna (25/1; 26.0) will be making sure Thomas is safe and sound inside the last 3km but after that might give it a nudge. In a messy, tired sprint he’s not without a chance though a late attack might be his best shot.
Edoardo Affini (50/1; 51.0) looked super strong when bridging to the break on stage 18 and sprint teams were clearly very wary of giving him any rope at all. A late attack might prove impossible to bring back.
Laurence Pithie (70/1; 71.0) seems to have a growing reputation for putting himself about a bit in the sprints and this could be his best chance of making the frame.
There are often some strange results in the final sprint stage of a Grand Tour so, even though a Milan/Merlier shootout looks the most likely, it’s worth rolling the dice with a few outsiders.
Stage 21 Bets
Juan Sebastián Molano 1pt each way (3 places) @20/1
Filippo Ganna 1pt each way (3 places) @25/1
Laurence Pithie 0.5pts each way (3 places) @70/1
Posted 22:05 BST Sat 25th May 2024
Prices to win the stage are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change - find the best prices available on the Giro d’Italia at Oddschecker
[Giro d’Italia stage profiles reproduced by kind permission of Ben Lowe at Veloviewer.com]
Follow @elpatroncycling on X and Threads
