"Who the f*ck flagged me?" Strava helps superhuman Pogacar, his jaw-dropping numbers are public again

Pogacar ultimately took 6 hours, 11 minutes and 43 seconds to complete the monstrous 222-kilometer stage. UAE-Team Emirates stepped up during the stage and kept the many breakaway riders at bay all day long. However, when Nairo Quintana proved to be dangerously strong in the finale, Pogacar decided, after a brief chat on the radio, to hit the pedals hard. He caught up with Quintana, who had been about three minutes ahead of Pogi before the attack, well before the finish line.

It all happened on the Passo di Foscagno, just over six kilometers from the summit. In a very short amount of time, Pogacar created a drop of 2.19 (!) minutes to all the other GC contenders. Only Romain Bardet proved strong and conceded 'only' 1.43 minutes at the summit. To give you the numbers: Pogacar climbed the last 6.16 kilometers at 28.18 kilometers per hour. The larger group of general classification riders behind him and Bardet covered that same distance at 23.95 kilometers per hour. That means Pogacar was 4.23 kilometers per hour faster...

Continue reading below the photo.

On a day that saw the most elevation gained in any grand tour since the beginning of the Strava era, some Strava users just couldn't stand to watch anymore. If you suspect an activity on Strava seems too perfect to be true, you have the option to 'flag' it as suspicious. Which is exactly what someone did to Pogacar, leading to his Strava file being temporarily hidden. "Who TF flagged me 🤧😏😢😈," wrote Pogacar, clearly frustrated, in his upload. Strava likely realized that the whole world had watched his performance unfold live on TV, and promptly removed the flag.

Let's tally up the King of the Mountains (KOMs) from this impressive file. On the Mortirolo, Pogi reportedly took a more relaxed approach, according to Strava standards, but that wasn't the case on the Passo di Foscagno. Since 2022, Steff Cras had held the record for this 14.51-kilometer climb, with an average grade of 6.3 percent, but he was completely ousted from the records. Pogacar bested his time by 1.56 minutes over the entire ascent. The KOM for the final, brutally steep climb to the finish line also changed hands, although Pogacar faced some challenges there as well.

The conclusion is unmistakable: the best way to experience the Giro in its final week will be to keep score starting from second place!