A week after his demonstration on the gravel paths of the "Strade bianche", the 23-year-old Slovenian title holder disgusted his opponents by escaping during the second ascent of this summit, on the fetish roads of Marco Pantani.
"My team did a great job to get me to the last climb. I had good legs so I decided to go there", commented the insatiable leader of UAE after this new recital at altitude.
His main rival, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, second overall just 9 seconds before this queen stage of the 2022 edition, showed the first signs of weakness in the first of the two Carpegna climbs, with its 6.6 km at 9 .9% on average with a passage of 15%, in a winter cold and still snow-covered roadsides.
He was then properly let go despite the return as reinforcements of his teammate Julian Alaphilippe, who came to the rescue after having animated the first part of the stage with a group of breakaways of nine riders.
Arriving more than 4 minutes from the Slovenian, the 22-year-old Belgian was ejected from the Top 10 overall (11th at 4 min 20 sec).
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain), dropped by Pogacar some 4 kilometers from the last summit passage, and 16 from the finish judged at the bottom of the descent, finished second and third in the stage, a little more than a minute.
The Dane and the Spaniard climb to the same places overall, respectively 1 min 52 sec and 2 min 33 sec behind the leader.
World champion Julian Alaphilippe leading a breakaway to Carpegna during the 6th stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, March 12, 2022 Luca Bettini AFP
This new victory will allow the double winner of the Tour de France to keep the "trident of Neptune", the trophy of the winner of Tirreno-Adriatico, at the end of a final stage promised to the sprinters.
Above all, it allows him to confirm his impressive start to the year after his success on the UAE Tour and his victory on the "Strade bianche", before a Milan-Sanremo, in a week, where he will be more than ever the man to to beat.
© 2022 AFP