Geraint Thomas admitted that Tadeji Poganyar had left the race at the Giro d'Italia, and Welshman and his rivals chose the stage where Slovenia wanted to win, took another big slice of pie and set up their own personal fight for the podium, leaving crumbs for everyone. It is locked in.

Tadej Pogañar wanted to win in Livigno for personal reasons. He first came to the area as a junior and later revealed that he first started dating his now partner Urškašigart while they were both training here. When he soared in Passo di Foscaño, no one could follow Poganyar, pointing to the sky and celebrating the big victory, he won alone.

Thomas had an intensifying rivalry on the podium at the same time as Dani Martinez (Bora Hansgrohe), Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) lost eight seconds and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain won) lost more than a minute. Tiberi kept the white jersey of the best young riders, but Thomas' teammate Timen Allenman was only 19 seconds away, while Filippo Zana (Jaco Arula) took the standings in 1:45. 

Martinez and O'Connor quickly got off the finish at Mottolino Ski Station, and the Colombians rode Livigno on their bikes and were enveloped in the cold. O'Connor preferred to take a small cable down the mountain after securing enough fatigue in the chaos that crossed the 222km stage and the finish line.

Poganyar's big win saw him get another 3 minutes to his rivals in the current GC standings. Thomas is still 2nd overall, but in Slovenia it was a huge down of 6:41, with Martinez at 6:56 in 3rd place and O'Connor at 7:43 in 3rd place.

However, Thomas has no regrets and is not looking for a gift from Poganyar or a slice of the winning pie. He let him go so that he could focus on his own fight for the podium.

"I think he should go for every stage he wants," Thomas told Cyclingnews and other media beyond Mottolino finish, his bike being X-rayed for mechanical doping and overlooking Livigno, like a number of other riders on stage.

"It's a bike race at the end of the day. It's a shame that none of us can get close to him right away," he added. "The gap is getting crazy. I don't know what it is now, five minutes or something. I think he's just on another level. He's riding in a different world, but I think for now it's still the best of the rest.

"You just ran out of what you should say about him, don't you know he's so good?" Maybe someone has a chance next week. You never know.

THOMAS KNEW THAT POGAÑAR WOULD WIN AS THE UAE TEAM EMIRATES UNIT ALONG THE VALLEY ROAD TO CLIMB UP TO LIVIGNO, BEYOND MORTIROLO

GRENADIERS OF INEOS WERE ALSO IN LARGE NUMBERS, BUT WHEN POGAÑAR ATTACKED, THOMAS BECAME A PODIUM RIVAL. He chose to switch to a race with the LE.

"We knew the attack was coming," he explained. "The United Arab Emirates rode hard all day and wanted them to go on stage and for fair play.

"I didn't feel 100% or wasn't confident anyway, so when it came I just thought, I just try to use others to follow I would have wanted to go with Pog but I would have just blown up.

"We obviously slowed down quickly and it became a cat and mouse, a race between us. We let Pog go and do his thing. When that gap goes, everyone is just looking at each other and it's kind of irrelevant. He could have won in 5 or 1 minutes, our group didn't seem to care. It was to race against each other.

"I felt better, came around and felt fine until the end, so it was good to be able to take some time with everyone and finish with a tick.

Thomas was looking forward to Monday's rest day in Livigno, but was not happy to hear about the forecast for heavy rain later in the week in the 202km stage 16 on Tuesday up to Santa Cristina Val Gardena and on other mountain stages.

"You cracked me now, I was looking forward to the rest of the day," he joked. "It would be nice to get this rest day in any way, just to get out of peloton and just to cool down. Then that's what it is. When it rains, it rains.

"We've done well in this race so far, but there are very difficult days right after the rest of the day, so we have to get ready for that. It will also start uphill on Tuesday, so it will be solid.

"Wednesday is also hard. It's only 160km, but it's either top or bottom, so I think it will probably be even harder than today, especially the day before. I'm not saying it was never easy today, but I've had quite a few tough days over the years."

You have unlimited access to all of the coverage of the Giro d'Italia - reports of journalists, breaking news, analysis on the ground from every stage of the race, etc. Learn more.