Tadej Pogacar emerged from a chaotic day to underline his dominance of this Giro d'Italia with victory on a weather-shortened stage 16 on the Monte Pano as Geraint Thomas dropped to third overall.
Two days after his stunning victory on the queen stage all but wrapped up overall victory barring incident, Pogacar was celebrating again, this time in miserable conditions as he took his fifth victory of this race with a late attack, winning by 16 seconds from Giulio Pellizzari.
Dani Martinez came home with Pellizzari to pick up 37 seconds on Thomas, who falls to third, seven minutes 40 seconds down on Pogacar and 22 seconds off the second step of the podium.
"The day started really on and off, we didn’t know what to do but when we started racing it was fine," Pogacar said. "In the final two kilometres we tried to control it, Rafal Majka had enough and then we pushed on and tried to make some gaps. I’m super happy."
There was confusion as the day began in Livigno, where riders refused to take to the start in snowy conditions in a dispute with organisers as to whether or not the race should go over the Umbrail pass – already a diversion from the original route over the Stelvio due to the risk of avalanches.
With riders shivering under makeshift tents, the message eventually came that a shortened stage would cut out the mountain pass and start further down the valley. Even that plan was amended before racing began from a petrol station in Laas, with 119km to be tackled to the summit finish.
Stage 12 winner Julian Alaphilippe tried to go solo as they began the climbing packed into the final 35km of the stage, but his two-minute advantage never looked like being enough given the terrain remaining and he was caught by a counter-attack five kilometres from the finish.
Pogacar attacked with one-and-a-half kilometres left, quickly distancing Thomas and Martinez before hoovering up the rest of the attackers and going clear, while Thomas could not hang on to the wheel of Martinez to drop back.
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