Tadei Pogachar dominates the view from the rocky exposed Prati di Tibo of Gran Sasso as he looks down on everything in this Giro d'Italia. On stage 8, as usual, Maria Rosa set the thermostat and the competitors had to put up with his preferred temperature.

In the time trial to Perugia the previous afternoon, Pogachar's pace was unbearably hot, not only for Geraint Thomas but for everyone else. For the Welshman, the summit finish at Prati di Tivo was more bearable in the temperatures.

Thomas was his usual sensible self on the even steeper, winding final climb past the village of Pietracamera, famous in the Pretarolo dialect, and the restrained racing style that had made him a Tour de France winner six years ago was already gone. Perhaps not, but at 37 years old, Thomas still expresses himself in the style he likes.

When the pink jersey pack began to break up in the last 1500m or so, Thomas had the smarts to go for the finish, guided by the beat of his own metronome. He crossed the finish line in fifth place, two seconds behind Pogachar, and held on to third place overall, albeit 2:58 behind the Slovenian.

"For me, it was much better than yesterday," he said.

"In terms of confidence, I was just going to sit here and do today and move on. Ultimately, I was really comfortable. I was surprised that people kept dropping off. I got a little stuck in the sprint, but I didn't have the legs to sprint with those guys."

Thomas' solid run in the early stages of the Giro had some wondering if he might rival or even surpass Pogachar in the Perugia time trial. Instead, the overwhelming favorite, Pogachar, confessed his fears that the setback could turn out even worse in the mountains of Abruzzo on Saturday.

"I wouldn't say I was scared, but I was a little nervous," Thomas said. 'And Thomas said, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do it. But I felt pretty good in the end, so at least that's good."

The team's teammates were also very happy with their performance.

The Giro d'Italia under the yoke of Pogachar was a success for Thomas, except that he was evenly matched with the top and podium contenders. He gave up two seconds and a bonus to Daniel Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R), but the goal of Saturday's practice was simply to steady the ship.

Ineos sent two riders to the break that day, but Honatan Narvaez and Magnus Sheffield were sent on the road to chase stage wins rather than as outriders to launch some sort of major offensive. Tomas, still burdened by the time trial, was content to follow the pink jersey group.

"The riders rode well from day one. Team morale is high. Of course, we would have liked to have ridden better yesterday, but at least we were able to recover today," Thomas said.

"I thought the breakaway was an opportunity and I wanted to get Johnny and Magnus in there. Obviously, the UAE set a good tempo on the climb. I don't know if they were going for the stage from the beginning, but I know they were going for the stage at the end. From my point of view, I tried not to jump too hard and let the guys chase me. "

Pogachar closed out three moves in the finale to take the stage win, but his efforts may not have been as sparing as they could have been. The riders chasing him in the overall standings seem more focused on fighting for the podium than on dropping Maria Rosa.

It's an understandable approach in the face of an unmovable obstacle like Gran Sasso, but given that the finish in Rome is still two weeks away, it could be a strange Giro.

"It would certainly be hard to beat him," Thomas said, responding to a question about whether Pogachar had already won the Giro.

"It's going to be pretty strange. I think from now on it will be like the last few days of the Grand Tour, where the other riders on GC will be watching each other. He can just sit there now.

"He's really insane.

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