dropping the Italian and the rest of the lead group 30 km from the finish: although he was subsequently joined at the front of the race by Fausto Masnada, Pogačar won the resulting two-man sprint at the finish line. He became the third rider after Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx to win two monuments and the Tour in the same year and just fourth rider to win the Tour de France and the Tour of Lombardy in the same season, after Coppi, Merckx and Bernard Hinault, and the first to do so in 42 years. As the 2021 offseason began the director of the Giro d'Italia, Mauro Vegni, challenged Pogačar to complete the Giro-Tour Double. Vegni stated, "If I'm not wrong, Pantani was the last. So perhaps it's time for a rider to add their name to the roll of honour." Pogačar did state he plans on attempting to win the Giro at some point in the future, but not in 2022. The only riders to complete any grand tour double since Pantani are Alberto Contador in 2008 and Chris Froome in 2017. 2022 Pogačar started the season off with victories in the 2022 UAE Tour, the 2022 Strade Bianche and then won two stages and nearly swept every jersey in the 2022 Tirreno–Adriatico, handily defeating Vingegaard and Landa, just missing the mountains jersey to Quinn Simmons. To prepare for the Tour de France he rode the 2022 Tour of Slovenia where he dominated the race with ease, to the point he and teammate Rafał Majka played a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide a stage win. Both of them also finished 1st and 2nd in the overall standings ahead of the final podium rider in Domen Novak. He started the Tour in good position being the highest ranked GC rider during the opening ITT. On stage 5, which was a difficult stage with several cobbled sections, he gained time on every GC rider. On stage 6 he won the sprint finish convincingly, picking up his first stage win of the Tour while rising to 1st place overall and moving into the yellow jersey. The next day, which concluded with a climb on La Planche des Belles Filles, he won his second stage of the Tour by defeating Vingegaard in the sprint. On stage 8 he fought for another win, but finished behind Van Aert and Matthews, although he gained additional