Hindley becomes 1st Australian to win the Giro d’Italia

VERONA, Italy: Jai Hindley accomplished what he so narrowly missed out on two years ago by sealing overall victory in the Giro d’Italia on Sunday — becoming the first Australian rider to win Italy’s Grand Tour. Hindley finished 1 minute, 18 seconds ahead of 2019 champion Richard Carapaz following the concluding individual time trial, which finished next to Verona’s Arena, a Roman amphitheater. The victory was all the more sweet for Hindley after he entered the final stage of the 2020 Giro wearing the pink jersey only to finish runner-up to Tao Geoghegan Hart. Hindley said that second-place finish haunted him for months afterward. “I had in the back of my mind what happened in 2020 and I wasn’t going to let that happen again,” Hindley said. Carapaz finished seven seconds ahead of Hindley in the time trial but Hindley had entered the final day with an advantage of 1:25. “I was getting updates and I felt pretty good on the bike,” Hindley said.

Hindley struggled last year with injury and sickness and withdrew midway through the 2021 Giro due to a saddle sore. “Last year was really, really hard and I really fought hard to be back here,” Hindley said. “But I didn’t know I would be fighting for the win.” Limited because of COVID-19 regulations, Hindley hasn’t gone home to Perth, Australia, since before the pandemic. “Two days ago I heard my parents were coming to the finish,” Hindley said. “I hadn’t seen them since the start of 2020 so it was really special today. At the end of the year I’ll go back home and savor every minute of it.” Nothing went wrong for the Bora–Hansgrohe rider in this year’s race. Hindley won Stage 9 that finished with a punishing climb to Blockhaus, he gained a few seconds on Carapaz during the grueling