Tadej Pogacar wrapped up overall victory at the Giro d’Italia and Geraint Thomas a second straight podium finish as Tim Merlier won the 21st and final stage in in Rome.
Pogacar will now turn his attention to claiming a third Tour de France crown in July and becoming the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both that event and the Giro in the same season.
He had stretched his advantage over Dani Martinez to just shy of 10 minutes when he won his sixth stage of this year’s Giro on Saturday, with Briton Thomas finishing 10 minutes and 24 second back in third.
Pogacar had been in the lead since victory on stage two and won by the biggest overall margin since 1965.
“I am speechless, it’s hard to describe this moment, it’s amazing,” said the 25-year-old.
“A lot of nice memories for sure, in a while I will see which one was the best moment but I think in general it was a really beautiful Giro.”
Thomas, who finished second to Primoz Roglic 12 months ago, rolled in to secure third place overall as he becoming only the second rider in Giro history over the age of 38 to finish on the podium.
Like Pogacar, Ineos Grenadiers star Thomas is focused on the Tour de France – which starts in Florence on June 29 – although his objective will be to help the likes of Tom Pidcock and Carlos Rodriguez.
Thomas told Eurosport: “I’ve really enjoyed [the Giro]. It’s been a good group of guys, it’s gone really fast, but it seems a lifetime ago that we started in Torino but it’s been great.
“I’m actually looking forward to [the Tour] now. It’s a big challenge but I’ll freshen up, stay off the beer, stay on it, go to altitude camp, go to the Tour and help the boys.
“We’ve got a great young team so I’m looking forward to it.”
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