Giro d’Italia stage 15 live: Tadej Pogačar faces tough test on queen stage

200km to go: It’s been a fast start to stage 15. The average speed is 47.5km/h, and the breakaway has quickly stretched out a three-minute advantage. 

203km to go: Right, who had Cofidis pulling in the peloton on their bingo card? Presumably, the French team are riding to protect Simon Geschke, who is second in the mountains classification, and wearing the blue jersey on loan from Pogačar. The German has missed the breakaway, so there will be slim pickings for him today. 

211km to go: That was the easiest formed breakaway I’ve seen all race. There were no complaints from the GC teams, who have settled down behind. 

Here’s who’s up the road:

Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqtsan)
Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan)
Harrison Wood (Cofidis)
Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)
Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ)
Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ)
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty)
Bert van Lerberghe (Soudal Quick-Step)
Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla)
Davide Bais (Polti Kometa)
Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè)

Calmejane is the highest place in the general classification, 24th overall, at 31-36. 

217km to go: 12 riders have gone clear with a 30-second lead. Movistar and Visma-Lease a Bike have missed the move, and both have busy riders at the front of the peloton, trying to wriggle away. 

222km go to: There are attacks for the breakaway immediately. Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) leads the move, with nine riders on his wheel. Among them, curiously, is sprinter Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla).

Stage 15 begins

222km to go: The official start is given and the long slog to Livigno commences. 

Here’s a picture of Tadej Pogačar at the sign-on this morning. The Slovenian has been really looking forward to this stage. Livigno is one of his favourite training haunts. He spent four weeks there at altitude in 2022. 

The riders roll out for the neutral start in Manerba del Garda. They’ll have 6.7km to warm up the legs, before the official 222km begin. 

Are you as excited for today as Lidl-Trek?

Chapeau to Jonathan Milan for being in such high spirits. He’s likely to finish today in the gruppetto, which will probably ride an hour longer than the first finishers. 

Key timings for stage 15 (in BST): 

Roll-out: 9:25
Race start: 9:40
Expected finish: 16:00

That’s right, it’s likely to be over six hours in the saddle for the riders today.  

Today’s stage is a brute. It’s uphill from the gun, with a cat-three climb, a cat-two, and then a punishing duo of cat-ones. 

As if all that wasn’t enough, the final kilometres are totally leg-sapping, counting gradients up to 19%, at over 2,300m altitude. If it comes down to a mountaintop shoot-out, this could be a very dramatic finale.