Giro d’Italia stage 21: Jai Hindley crowned champion, Matteo Sobrero powers to TT stage win

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) successfully defended his 1:25 overnight lead to win the 2022 Giro d’Italia.

Hindley rolled into the Verona arena at the close of the stage 21 time trial only seven seconds slower than Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) to win his first grand tour by 1:18 over his Ecuadorian rival.

As well as marking a massive moment in the 26-year-old’s career, Hindley’s victory brings Bora-Hansgrohe its first grand tour classification victory and Australia its first maglia rosa.

Hindley also secured his nation’s first grand tour win since Cadel Evans won the 2011 Tour de France.

💗 Giro d’Italia 2022 | Stage 2⃣1⃣

🇦🇺 @JaiHindley wins the Giro d’Italia 2022!

🇦🇺 @JaiHindley vince il Giro d’Italia 2022!#Giro pic.twitter.com/EX1OUpWLm6

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 29, 2022

Carapaz emptied the tank in Sunday’s stage in an effort to undo his deficit to Hindley but couldn’t do enough to match his 2019 victory. Second on the podium reconfirms Carapaz as one of the top GC riders of the active peloton but will taste bittersweet after his stage 20 overturn.

Also read:  Giro d’Italia: Jai Hindley puts bad year behind him with ’emotional’ pink jersey

Italian national TT champion Matteo Sobrero won the Giro’s closing 17.4km race against the clock to bring the host country its fifth stage win and a third for Team BikeExchange-Jayco.

Sobrero beat both Thymen Arensman (DSM) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) by more than 20 seconds in a dominant performance over the 22-minute race.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) started the stage in third overall and was all-but assured a podium finish with his six-minute lead over Vincenzo Nibali (Astana-Qazaqstan) in fourth.

Landa was way back on Carapaz when he rolled to a stop in Verona but did enough to finish third overall behind the 2019 champion.

The 17.4km course was dominated by a 5km, 5 percent climb, but there were no road bikes or lightweight mods for a TT decided by pure power and handling skills.

Julius van den Berg (EF Education EasyPost) was first in the hotseat with his early marker. Van den Berg’s teammate Magnus Cort soon stole the fastest time away, bettering the Dutchman’s time by more than one minute as the race for the stage started to heat up.

Finishing times kept reducing through the afternoon as the roads dried out after morning showers.

Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) had just settled into the hotseat when Sobrero crushed his time with an inch-perfect TT.

The Italian stallion climbed strong in the TT bars and made a stunning high-speed descent to move into pole position by more than one minute.

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🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️ @MatteoSobrero #Giro pic.twitter.com/uA7w44kUZM

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 29, 2022

Like always, Van der Poel didn’t hold back with his ride.

The flying Dutchman went deep in the final stage of his first grand tour to set the provisional second-fastest time behind Sobrero.

Highly-touted Ineos Grenadiers rookie Ben Tulett finished soon after Van der Poel. The 20-year-old supertalent put in another impressive ride that left him fifth on the stage. He also finished fifth in the Budapest TT three weeks ago.

Arensman was the last major threat to Sobrero and his provisional lead on the race. The 22-year-old couldn’t match Sobrero’s stunning ride through either the climb or descent but did enough to finish second on the stage.

Hindley was last down the ramp, kitted out in a pink skinsuit and riding a pink-flourished Specialized.

The Aussie kept pace with a storming ride from Carapaz, who had rolled out three minutes earlier. Carapaz rallied after blowing up Saturday to finish 10th on the stage, but it was no way near enough to overturn Hindley and his 1:25 advantage.

U.S. contenders

Joe Dombrowski (Astana-Qazaqstan), Will Barta (Movistar) and U.S. national time trial champion Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange) all successfully finished their Giri.

Dombrowski finished 22nd overall, Barta 59th, and Craddock 107th.

Other classifications

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) rumbled home to secure his second maglia ciclamino jersey after dominating the Giro’s sprints with three victories.

Koen Bouwman put a sticking-plaster over Jumbo Visma’s GC disappointment by winning the Azzura jersey of best climber and claiming two stages.

The white jersey of best young rider was comfortably secured by Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo). The Spaniard was the breakout star of the race after holding pink for 10 days.