Giro d'Italia leader Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) took his second win of the 24-hour race and third of the competition on Saturday.

The UAE Team Emirates racer held off Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) to replicate his 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico victory with a summit finish at Prati di Tivo.

Pogachar's overall result, unlike Friday's devastating time trial, was limited to a 10-second time bonus for a first-place finish, but he expressed his determination to win, saying, "I'm racing for the teams that pay me."

On the day of Pogachar's dominant showing in the 2024 Giro, a minor concern for the Slovenian was a stuffy nose caused by "allergies or something. It's probably allergies or something," he said.

But with his 10th win of the season and a commanding lead in both the overall and the mountains, Pogachar explained in emphatic terms why he would not stop pushing for every possible win.

"I'm 100% (sure that) some guys are annoyed, but I'm racing for the team that pays me and the guys that are here for me.

"They work hard all year to prepare me for the Giro. It's stages like today that prove we are strong and can win. If we don't win, all the hard work won't pay off. So I am really happy we won today.

"Anyway, the GC contenders showed really good strength on the last climb, so I'm sure they will regain their confidence and we will see a great battle for the next mountain stage.

Pogachar explained that, in any case, the decision to limit the advantage of the day's 14-man breakaway and let him win was a collective one made by the team midway through the stage.

"The first decision was to bring the team together as much as possible," he said.

"Then we picked up the pace on the first climb. Luckily Mikkel Berg and Vegard (Stijk Lengen) survived the long climb.

"My teammates, especially Bjarg, were really motivated and I was confident that we could keep the time gap down.

Pogachar was aware that even though his teammates were eager to win, he had been approached by some of his rivals during the race asking why he needed to go for another stage.

"But here's the thing. As I said before, the team is here to win the Giro and show how strong it is. If you are being paid by a team, you need to do what the team says.

He pointed out that of the eight stage wins he has had, he has only won three. In other words, his competitors had five other chances, which was "a lot of chances for anyone."

This last observation conveniently ignores the fact that he fought for the win on the first stage, finished second behind Jonathan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), and launched a lightning attack in the closing stages of the third stage, designed for sprinters Despite this, Pogachar said that his second career victory at Prati di Thibo was not a straightforward affair.

"It was really hard, a little technical at the end, and the slipstream really helped," Pogachar said.

"I tried to respond to every attack, but I knew if I did that I would hurt my leg. But luckily, Rafau [teammate Micah] came back to lead out, and I was able to get back in the leadout.

If the Giro's short-term history repeated itself on Saturday, as Pogachar scored his second and third summit-finish stage victories in less than a week, so did the Slovenian on this climb, his second after Tirreno-Adriatico in 2021, The history of the Plati di Tibo race also reappeared.

In 2021, Pogachar's victory came under slightly different circumstances: an attack 5 km from the summit. But the end result was the same, and he said the victory, one of the fastest of his career, inspired him again on Saturday.

"Yes, I won here three years ago. I remember well when I won for my girlfriend and I have good memories of Tirreno. It definitely gives me more motivation to try to win."

Pogachar will not have such memories to boost his morale on Sunday's long stage to Naples, theoretically made for sprinters. But with the climb proving once again that he is the strongest of this year's Giro, and with a time trial victory just around the corner, the Slovenian has plenty of reason to be optimistic about the race still to come.