Giro d’Italia: Jai Hindley launches himself into the pink jersey with late attack

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) rode into the maglia rosa, finally cracking Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) at the last possible moment in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

Separated from the race lead by just three seconds at the start of the day, Hindley finished the stage as the nearly guaranteed winner of the Giro d’Italia with a 1:25 advantage over Carapaz

Two years ago, the Australian entered the final stage of the Giro d’Italia with a one-second lead over Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos-Grenadiers) and had the maglia rosa ripped off his shoulders by the Brit in the final time trial.

This year, it seems that Hindley will have a big enough gap to hold off an Ineos Grenadier rider.

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It had been a cagey stage befitting this cagey Giro until the last climb of the day– the Passo Fedaia – where the road rears upwards in the final five kilometers to an average of over 10 per cent.

With 5 kilometers still to race, Ineos moved to the front as Pavel Sivakov and Ben Tulett began to increase the pace; Hindley remained glued to Carapaz’s wheel while his teammate Emmanuel Buchmann and other GC contenders were spat out of the peloton.

Hindley attacked with 3km to go, only Carapaz could follow. Immediately joined his teammate Lennard Kämna who had been sent up the road for precisely this eventuality.

As Carapaz cracked two kilometers from the finish, Hindley pressed on, weaving past the remnants of the breakaway who moved to the side of the road allowing the Australian to pass.

The gap ticked upwards, reaching 30 seconds with still more than a kilometer to race.

Mikel Landa and Hugh Carthy who had earlier been distanced, passed Carapaz on the road and finished 47 seconds behind Hindley. Rocking all over his bike, the Ecuadorian finally crossed the line with his head bowed 1:23 after Hindley.