Jai Hindley becomes first Australian to win Giro d’Italia

Bora-Hansgrohe rider Jai Hindley became the first Australian winner of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday after safely coming through the final stage, a 17.1km time-trial around Verona, to stay ahead of challenger Richard Carapaz.

A powerful finish to Saturday’s final mountainous Giro stage gave Hindley a commanding lead over Carapaz of Ecuador in the general classification, meaning he just had to avoid disaster in Verona to claim his first grand tour title, which he did with ease.

Hindley had reason to be cautious going into Sunday’s finale. In 2020, the Australian lost a Giro title that was in his hands to Tao Geoghegan Hart in the Milan time-trial — the Briton pulling back 39 seconds in the final 15.7km stage.

However, this time Hindley’s efforts