Tadej Pogacar tightened his grip on the 2024 Giro d'Italia on Saturday, winning the 152-kilometer mountainous Stage 8 over rolling terrain for his third success of this year's race.

A day after claiming the lengthy individual time trial in Perugia, the 25-year-old Team UAE leader paced himself up the 14-kilometer final climb, along with an elite clique, before producing his trademark late kick to the 1,425-meter altitude finish line in the Abruzzo region.

• Subscribe To FloBikes To Catch All The Best Cycling, News And Highlights
• Bricklayer To Pirate: Five Italians Who Have Marked The Giro d'Italia
• Tadej Pogacar Aiming For Explosive Giro d'Italia Debut

Pogacar also won the second stage, a summit finish at the Sanctuary of Oropa in Piedmont.

In his bid to win the Giro and Tour de France in the same season, he now leads title rivals Dani Martinez by 2 minutes, 40 seconds and Geraint Thomas in third by 2 minutes, 58 seconds, with the pair close on his heels on the second mountain stage in the 21-day race.

Australia's AG2R man Ben O'Connor at 3 minutes, 39 seconds and Belgian Visma rider Cian Uijtdebroeks at 4 minutes, 2 seconds, round out the top five places in the overall standings.

The Slovenian Pogacar, a two-time Tour de France champion, is taking part in the Giro for the first time and hopes to emulate Italy's Marco Pantani, who won the double in 1998.

"My team won this one in a way," said Pogacar, who was paced all the way by teammate Rafal Majka.

The race continues Sunday with a largely flat 214-kilometer Stage 9 to the southern port city of Naples on a route open to attacks from the same kind of one-day specialists who lit up Stage 6 on the Tuscan gravel.

"Sunday will be easier for us, and we could do with some breathing space now," said Pogacar, known for his all-in style and desire to rack up stage wins.

Ineos leader Thomas had a more poised approach to the art of negotiating the 21-day long-haul and said he was more than happy after the climb.

"I felt much better today, it's like night and day," said the veteran, hoping to find his peak in the ultra-mountainous third week.

Thomas was just two seconds adrift on the day after being paced by young teammate Thymen Arensman.

Dutch outfit Visma lost another of their chief riders to injury when Christophe Laporte failed to show up for the start. He fell hard when hitting a gutter on Stage 5.

The Visma team is reeling from injuries to double Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard and one-day expert Wout van Aert.

Catch All The Best Races, Highlights, Insight, News And More On FloBikes

FloBikes is the streaming home to some of the best cycling from across the globe. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more of your favorites in action.

FloBikes Archived Footage

Video footage from each event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloBikes subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscriptions.

Join The Conversation On FloBikes Social

• Follow us on Twitter @FloBikes
• Follow us on Instagram @flobikes
• Follow us on TikTok @flobikes
• Watch us on YouTube
• Like us on Facebook