The last decisive stage of the Giro dItalia and two climbs of Monte Grappa await. Can anyone beat Pogaar?The Dukes of Savoy: a lively stage with a fierce fight to get in the break. Finally two groups went up the road and merged to form 19 away for the day and the peloton behind sat up as if theyd stopped for lunch.Julian Alaphilippe attacked on the steepest early part of the Passo Duron and this prompted a selection. Andrea Vendrame was chasing over the top, a few metres behind but able to close the gap on the descent. Vendrame wasnt climbing the best but has a sharp sprint, although so did others like Alaphilippe. What to do?French military leader Marshall Foch once said my centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I will attack and Vendrame seemed to borrow from this as he went solo up the road with over 30km to go. Alaphilippe, Pelayo Snchez, Luke Plapp and Tobias Steinhauser didnt follow, there was a stand-off and Vendrame quickly had a minute. The chasers couldnt collaborate and in the end Steinhauser and Sanchez rode away but it was too late. Vendrame gets his teams second stage win.Behind the main group arrived 16 minutes later with no change on GC but a small scare for Geraint Thomas after he overlapped his front wheel with Antonio Tiberi and slid to the ground. He was up and the group seemed to wait for him but well see if he is sore today.The Route: 184km and 4,250m of vertical gain. Theres the wall of Ca del Poggio which has featured in the Giro and other races before but its here for the fun of it, its unlikely to shape the stage.Two ascents of Monte Grappa, its 18km at an average of 8.1% which is tough but thats with two brief downhills on the way so its more often 9% and more, especially on the upper slopes. The descents matter as much as the climbs, tricky in places and its often on a narrow road through woodland.The Finish: a descent down into town and a flat finish.The Contenders: after two stages in the mountains where the breakaway has won, Tadej Pogaar (UAE) has said hes after todays stage. The only thing that might stop him is hubris, thinking its too easy because he could always lose in a sprint to a rival or find going down the tricky descents first is risky in the sense of a pioneer. However hes likely to ride away from rivals so losing a sprint seems improbable.A breakaway has a chance but it requires the right move to form early. Right, as in having plenty of teams and then each team needs more than one rider, a worker who will tow their climber across the plains to help build up a lead and this way pull the break clear of UAE. Easier said than done of course. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) sealed his Giro win a decade ago here. Michael Storer (Tudor) and J-P Lopez (Lidl-Trek) would be other picks.PogaarQuintana, Martinez, Storer, Lopez, BardetWeather: rain clearing to leave sunshine, 20C at the foot of the climb, 10C at the top.TV: KM0 is at 11.50am CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in for the first time up Monte Grappa at 2.00pm, 3.30pm for the second ascent.Postcard from Bassano del GrappaBassano del Grappa ought to have hosted more stages of the Giro. A large town located at the foot of Monte Grappa, today sees the ninth arrival of the race, the first this century. Among the past winners here are Fausto Coppi in 1946 and Eddy Merckx in 1974. Can Pogaar join the club?One of the interesting angles of this years Giro has been the coverage of Pogaar in the Italian media. So far ahead of his rivals theres been little coverage asking if Martinez or Thomas could overhaul him, instead frequent, flattering comparisons to Merckx and Coppi, or to appeal to younger generations to the greats in other sports like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods; yesterdays Gazzetta tried to compare him to two top footballers in Serie A, Rafael Leo and Victor Osimhen because they too have massive break clauses in their contracts to prevent rival squads trying to buy them out.Pogaar is compared to Merckx but theyre very different, in many ways and not just separated by their eras. If riders and teams lament Pogaars eclipsing them, theyve got it easy compared to Merckx in some ways. The tale of Dino Zandeg comes to mindZandeg was a good rider, he won the Tour of Flanders and the points competition in the Giro. In the 1970 Giro during one stage a Tuscan winegrower offered 40 flasks of wine for the winner of an intermediate sprint. No points, no time bonus: just wine. Zandeg notices Merckx readying himself but outfoxes him to take the sprint and the wine. Merckx was livid and declared that Chianti was mine and threatened Zandeg with never riding a criterium again, an important source of income for riders. After the stage Merckx tracks down Zandeg in his hotel room to demand half of the wine. Zandeg relents.Already the highest paid rider in the sport, here we see Merckx enraged that someone can beat him in a sprint for some wine, going as far as threats and even wasting time hunting down Zandeg to demand half of the prize like some capricious feudal lord. All for some wine he could easily afford to buy.This anecdote sheds some light on Merckxs compulsion to win and is told in Daniel Friebes Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal, a book due for a re-read this summer given the multiple Merckx mentions. Friebe writes about allegations of a mafia racing style that used force and even violence to intimidate others, some of this coming from zealous team mates too keen to impress their boss but the kind of tactics that probably would not happen today with start-to-finish TV and social media. Yet if Pogaar does win today and then wins outright hell have surpassed Merckx who only won five stages at best on his way to the overall victory, although Pogaar wont win a case of wine.The post Giro Stage 20 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.