Jai Hindley became the first Australian to win the Giro d’Italia as the 26-year-old eased home on the final-stage time-trial. Hindley, who had lost the 2020 race on the final-day time trial, had snatched the pink jersey and an 85-second lead from Richard Carapaz on Saturday. Ecuador’s Carapaz went out hard but could not strike back on the individual race against the clock in Verona. “It’s a beautiful feeling. A lot of emotions out there,” Hindley said. “I had in the back of my mind what happened in 2020 and I wasn’t going to let that happen again, to be honest. To take the win is really incredible. “I was getting updates and I felt pretty good on the bike. I didn’t feel like I was fighting it and I knew it was a decent ride.” Spaniard Mikel Landa took the final spot on the overall podium behind Hindley and Carapaz, ahead of two-time Giro champion Vincenzo Nibali in fourth, riding his final Giro at the age of 37. Matteo Sobrero of BikeExchange-Jayco ensured there was an Italian stage winner to sign off on this year’s race, with a time of 22 minutes 24.54 seconds on the 17.4km course. It brought to an end an eventful edition of the Giro…

General classification after stage 21
1. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) 86 hours 31 minutes 14 seconds

2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenedier) +1min 18secs

3. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +3min 24secs

4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana-Qazaqstan) +9mins 2secs

5. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +9mins 14secs

6. Jan Hirt (Cze/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +9mins 28secs

7. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/Bora Hansgrohe) +13mins 19secs

8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +17mins 29secs

9. Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Education-EasyPost) +17mins 54secs

10. Juan Pedro Lopez (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) +18mins 40secs

COURTESY