The hilltop city of Perugia is like an Escher painting, with its many layers folded on top of each other. The city of Perugia is a city of many layers, like an Escher painting, especially after the 40km time trial at the end of the Giro d'Italia, where the riders rode as fast as they could along the steep roads leading to the citadel.

By the time he had free-ridden 400 meters from the finish line to the intersection of Via Valdeschi and Via Battisti, Geraint Thomas had lost sight of the signs to the parking lot where the Ineos Grenadiers van was waiting. Thomas, a former Tour de France champion, stopped in the road to assess the situation as pedestrians heading to their Friday night aperitivo passed him without a glance.

Thomas looked around and the journalists who had been jogging after him for a quote now pointed in the right direction. Thomas nodded his thanks and started running again.

Thomas, who lost two minutes to Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) in this stage 7 time trial, could have been forgiven for wishing to escape from view altogether. For example, during the Team Sky era, when Dave Brailsford began to disappear from the public eye, he was the de facto team spokesman, regularly coming to work even on bad news days.

By the time the reporters arrived at the Checchi Street parking lot, Thomas had already climbed into his turbo trainer under the overpass, sheltering from the sun. As Thomas began his cool down, Zach Dempster, Ineos' sports director, gave his assessment of the day that had brought the team a double loss.

Not only did he finish two minutes ahead of Thomas, but Pogachar also missed out on the stage win by an astounding 17 seconds to Filippo Ganna. Ineos' Tymen Arensman finished third by 49 seconds and Magnus Sheffield fourth by 1:00, but their good efforts were offset by the disappointing performances of Ganna and Thomas.

"We weren't the first team to be beaten by Pogachar, and we won't be the last," Dempster said. 'He's usually fast on the climbs, the descents, and the flats.'

Dempster confessed that Thomas "didn't have an exhilarating run on the last climb," and the Welshman confirmed this when he nodded to a group of reporters gathered around the turbo trainer. The run from Foligno was a two-part time trial, with the first 32 km being flat and fast, before a bumpy climb into the center of Perugia.

"Personally it wasn't my best, but for a bad day on the bike it wasn't too bad," Thomas said.

"I held back a bit on the flats and pushed on the climbs. I think I could have attacked on the steeps, but otherwise I slowed down too much and lost a lot of time. It happens."

"On the steep part of the climb, I was doing what I wanted to do. But those things happen."

At the first check after 18.6 km, Tomas was eight seconds behind Pogachar, but by the time they reached the base of the final climb to Perugia, the gap had increased to 40 seconds. On the climb, Thomas was unable to find his tempo, or at least a rhythm that would limit the damage to the supersonic Pogachar, who was performing his best time trial since his stunning victory at La Planche des Belle Filles in the 2020 Tour de France.

Thomas finished this stage in 10th place.

"I was trying to save something and just go fast," Thomas said. [25] "Going into the climb, I felt like I had a little bit of leeway. It wasn't like the last 3km of last year's TT [in Monte Russari, editor's note:] where I had a little bit more room. It felt like last year's opening TT, flat and with a kicker at the end.

"It felt the same. When it came time to go on, I couldn't really go. But like I said, you have good days and bad days."

In the overall standings, Thomas dropped to third overall, 2:46 behind Pogachar and 10 seconds behind his former teammate Daniel Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Before the race began, Pogachar was the overwhelming favorite to win the Giro, but Thomas had resisted well in the early days. Pogachar's great success here changed the complexion of the race, but as the streets and alleys of Perugia became more intricate, Toma tried to find a clearer perspective.

"The old races were longer," he said. Unless you were Pogachar or Jonas [Vingegaard]. ......."

Yes, the Giro is still long and there are still most of the important mountain stages left. But against this Pogachar, it feels like only part of the problem, and Thomas knows it.

"I've really run out of things to say about him," Thomas said. 'We all know how good he is.'

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