Stage 21

The road

At the start

Eight laps of Rome

Monte Grappa settled the podium. Pogačar starts the last day 9:56 up on Daniel Martínez and 10:24 on Geraint Thomas, and barring calamity the maglia rosa is already spoken for. Today runs out to the Tyrrhenian coast and back for eight laps of central Rome, 9.5 kilometres apiece, past the Colosseum and over short cobbled sections to a 350-metre finishing straight. Milan has three stage wins, Merlier two.

How it was won

1. 19 km to go

   A four-man break decorates the circuits

   Past the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus a four-man move animates the laps of Rome, kept on a short leash by the sprinters' teams.

2. 2At the line

   Merlier wins in Rome as Pogačar takes the Giro

   Milan punctures before the last lap and storms back, but Merlier jumps on the final pass of the Colosseum for a third sprint win, while Pogačar rolls in safely to seal a dominant Giro debut.

The result