Sunday's stage 15 brought the Giro d'Italia to the Alps for the first in a series of late-race mountain battles, and with it came a momentous day of racing over passes such as the brutal Mortirolo and the 15km Passo di Foscagno.
Once again, it was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), racing in the maglia rosa of race leader, who proved himself to be far superior to his opponents. The Slovenian took off from the favourites' group 14km from the finish of the 222km queen stage, flying away from his erstwhile rivals as he did on the previous summit finishes of Oropa and Prati di Tivo.
This time around, the damage done in the GC battle was much greater, as Pogačar crossed the line a full three minutes ahead of the other climbers in the top-10 battle – a feat almost unthinkable over a relatively short stretch of road, even if it is in the high Alps.
Along the way, he dispatched battling breakaway riders, including young hopeful Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) and former Giro winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar), the latter seeing his dreams of a first Grand Tour stage win in five years evaporate inside the final 2km after over 180km in the break.
Behind them, riders were scattered all the way down the mountain, from podium contenders Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 2:50 down to the last men home, Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) and Julius van den Berg (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), who finished a full hour back.
Thanks to our photographers on the ground in Italy, we've captured all the best images on a day which may well have decided the 2024 Giro.
The calm before the start – the peloton awaits the beginning of the mammoth queen stage in Manerba del Garda
Riders pass through a picturesque village during stage 15 – there's no shortage of them on the Giro
Riders had no time to admire the views across the Alps, least of all on the high-speed descents
The breakaway is dwarfed by the high mountains of the Alps as they race towards Livigno on stage 15
As is always the case at the Giro, whole towns poured out onto the streets to greet the race as it passed through
...and if they were on the streets, they were on the mountainsides too
The breakaway would ultimately be an unsuccessful one on stage 15 – thanks to Tadej Pogačar
Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates teammates descend towards a lakeside during stage 15
The maglia rosa raced among the group of GC favourites until he took off with 14km to go
Best young rider Antonio Tiberi and podium contenders Dani Martínez and Geraint Thomas in the GC group
Up the road, Nairo Quintana was making a bid for the stage win from the early breakaway
The break had been as large as 50 men at one point before the mountain passes whittled the move down
A shadowed Quintana framed against the snowcapped mountains of the Italian Alps
Pogačar goes it alone, hunting down the break as he sought a fourth stage victory in this Giro
Out front, the effort of trying to hang on and win the stage told on Georg Steinhauser
Quintana was a stony-faced as ever at the head of the race
Further back, Romain Bardet nipped away from the main group to gain some time and climb to 7th on GC
Pogačar would gain three minutes or more on the majority of his GC rivals on the stage
Steinhauser would come away with third on the stage, his best result so far in his debut Grand Tour
Bardet's attack saw him gain 48 seconds on Filippo Zana to move above the Italian into seventh overall
Thymen Arensman shepherded Thomas and Martínez to the finish, with the pair ending up 2:50 down on Pogačar
Ben O'Connor, meanwhile, lost more time in the battle for third place, shedding eight seconds to Martínez
Once again, nobody could match the man in pink, Tadej Pogačar
Fun and games in the final kilometre – wheelies and ski jumps
Pogačar takes a moment to drink in his achievement after six hours in the saddle
