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Jai Hindley is the first Australian to win the Giro d’Italia

Bora-Hansgrohe's champion is second Aussie to earn a Grand Tour title

Photo by: Sirotti
May 29, 2022
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Jai Hindley became the first Australian to win the Giro d’Italia and the second Aussie to win a Grand Tour, as he kept the pink jersey on Sunday’s concluding time trial in Verona. Hindley had a 1:25 gap over 2019 winner Richard Carapaz going into the stage. Two years ago when Hindley raced for Sunweb, he lost the pink jersey to Tao Geoghegan Hart on the final day’s time trial. Matteo Sobrero gave BikeExchange-Jayco its third stage win and Italy its fifth stage victory by triumphing in Sunday’s chrono.

The Course

In fair Verona where we lay our scene, the riders had 17.4 km to chrono. The route had a Cat. 4 climb smack dab in the middle, 4.1 km of 5.4 percent. Its crest was the intermediate time check. After the finish line, riders entered the Arena di Verona, a 1988-year-old Roman amphitheatre.

The lead switched hands several times before another Australian, Michael Hepburn of BikeExchange-Jayco registered the fastest time of 23:48. Dane Magnus Cort of EF Education-EasyPost pushed Hepburn from the hot seat with 23:42. Hepburn’s teammate, Italian chrono champion Matteo Sobrero, destroyed Mauro Schmid’s best time with 22:24.

Matteo Sobrero destroyed the course with 22:24.

Things got a little congested on the streets of southern Verona.

Hindley only conceded a second to the Ecuadorian at the time check atop the climb.

Arnaud Démare took the purple points jersey, double stage winner Koen Bouwman claimed the blue mountains jersey, after 10 days in pink Juanpe Lopez finished in the white young rider’s jersey. Bahrain-Victorious was the best team, with three riders in the top-12. Four Spanish riders made the top-11.

Santiago Buitrago was one of three Bahrain-Victorious riders in the top-12. Photo: Sirotti

Not only was it Bora-Hansgrohe’s first Grand Tour title, it was also the first time the team had been on a Grand Tour podium.

Besides his 2019 Giro title, Carapaz has been on the podium of the last three Grand Tours he has finished.

With third place, Mikel Landa matches his best career Grand Tour result from the 2015 Giro.

Of the 26 Grand Tours Vincenzo Nibali has started, he’s been in the top-10 sixteen times.

Alex Cataford, the lone Canadian in the Giro, finished the race in 101st overall.

The next Grand Tour, the 109th Tour de France, starts with a 13-km Copenhagen time trial on July 1 in 32 days.

2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 21
1) Matteo Sobrero (Italy/BikeExchange/Jayco) 22:24
2) Thymen Arensman (The Netherlands/Team DSM) +0:23
3) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) +0:40
143) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +4:58

2022 Giro d’Italia Final GC
1) Jai Hindley (Australia/Bora-Hansgrohe)
2) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) +1:18
3) Mikel Landa (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +3:24
4) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana-Qazaqstan) +9:02
5) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +9:14
101) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +5:01:44