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Merlier and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) again emerged as the fastest men in the field, both of whom being waylaid by mechanical difficulties mid-race, though Milan’s chase was significantly later in the piece, coming on the penultimate lap.
Merlier had to launch his sprint very early, sweeping around his opponents for the win, with Milan trying to follow and match him, but just missing the initial jump, finishing second. Australian Kaden Groves was third, continuing his consistent run of sprint showings at the Italian Grand Tour, but ultimately ending winless over the three weeks.
Tadej Pogačar didn’t quite take the pink jersey from start to finish, his only blemish the Stage 1 finish where he was outsprinted by Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers) for the first stage win and the initial lead. He soon rectified that deficit, winning the next mountain stage and only increasing his lead from there to the finish in Rome, where he emerged the winner by just shy of 10 minutes over Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) second overall at 9:56 back and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) third, 10:24 off the Slovenian.
Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) was fourth overall, 12:07 adrift of Pogačar, and 1:43 behind the podium-getters.
"I'm speechless about this moment in Rome. It's crazy," Pogačar said after the finish. "We wanted to be in front in the finale of today's stage. It was quite technical and bumpy. We did super well with the boys. It's unlucky Molano didn't have very good legs but we did the rest of the job so well. So we're happy.
"I have a lot of fond memories of this Giro. In a while I'll realise which one was the best moment. In general, it was a beautiful Giro. The maglia rosa is really special. It's been a crazy experience to have it for 20 days. All the fans have been incredibly good."
Milan secured the points classification title with 352 points over runner-up Groves’ 225 and Merlier’s 193 in third. Italian Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) took the youth classification after a battle with Thymen Arensman while Pogačar added the mountain classification to his overall, winning as a by-product of his incredible stage winning performances ahead of Giro revelation Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
