Primoz Roglic won the penultimate stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, thereby ending Geraint Thomas’ chances of winning the race.

Roglic beat Thomas by 40 seconds in a grueling mountain time trial to grab a 14-second lead into Sunday’s final, processional stage.

Despite having to deal with a mechanical issue, the Slovenian won the 18.6km stage.

“It’s just something amazing,” Roglic, 33, remarked.

“I tripped over the chain. It’s a component of it. I replaced it and restarted [again].

“You don’t want these things to happen, but I reattached the chain and restarted.”

Stage 20 took held in north-east Italy, between Tarvisio and the summit of Monte Lussari, just a few kilometres from the Slovenian border.

He also claimed that his followers gave him more “watts” as he finished in 42 minutes and 20 seconds.

The Giro culminates on Sunday with a 135km parade around Rome.

“Just one more day.” I believe the lap is extremely difficult and complicated. It’s not over until it’s finished, but it looks nice,” Roglic remarked.