Jai Hindley

Jai Hindley is on the verge of making Australian cycling history, as he takes the lead of the Giro d'Italia with just the final time trial to come.

I had to try and get away from everyone before the final climb," Covi said. "I attacked from far away because I am not really a climber. It was an epic stage."

Australian shows patience to snatch Giro d'Italia lead in final 3km of Fedaia.

“The race isn’t over.” In the mixed zone atop the Marmolada, an Ecuadorian journalist thanked Hindley for his time and then wistfully told him that he had disappointed an entire nation. A group of Ecuadorian fans, meanwhile, called Hindley over to the barriers for an almost consolatory selfie, and he dutifully obliged. “It was a very frustrating year, and I also had people asking me if 2020 was just a fluke. It was very frustrating, but with the support of the people in my inner circle, I got back to that level this year, I think. “Today was a pretty crucial day, with the final climb being so hard, and I knew if I wanted to do something in the race, it was going to have to be today, regardless of how the legs were feeling,” Hindley said when he took a seat in the press conference truck. I think it helped to decide the stage today.” Kämna’s help on the upper portion of the Fedaia seemed both to encourage Hindley and demoralise Carapaz, though his presence at that critical juncture was more the result of providence than of planning. “Actually, it wasn’t a saddle sore, it was some next-level thing. On Friday afternoon, Bora-Hansgrohe had laid the groundwork on Kolovrat, but Hindley opted against a grand offensive on the final ascent of Santuario di Castelmonte, reasoning that the terrain was too mild. “I didn’t say anything to Lenny because I was completely on the limit. I knew if you had the legs there, you could make the difference.

The Australian goes into the final time trial with a 1:25 lead over Richard Carapaz.

“He knows a lot of the roads, he knows a lot of the riders, he knows a lot, to have that experience in your ear it was really important, but it wasn’t just him, the other DSs really did a phenomenal job.” “Today was a pretty crucial day with the final climb being so hard and I knew that if I wanted to do something in the race it would have to be today, regardless of how the legs were feeling. “It took me off the bike completely for around one month and then after that I tried to get ready for the Vuelta again and in the end I wasn’t selected for the team. I worked super hard in 2021 to be at a good level and I had quite a lot of illness,” he said. “It was a really bumpy road to get back here, with a tough season last year. “I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to be a professional cyclist and it’s all I’ve dreamed about.

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) took over the maglia rosa on the penultimate day of the 2022 Giro d'Italia, as Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) took stage ...

By the finish line, he’d put almost 90 seconds into the race leader, putting Hindley into the maglia rosa with a 1:25 buffer for the final stage time trial on Sunday. The peloton left the breakaway to enjoy the first-category Passo San Pellegrino and hors-catégorie Passo Pordoi. The latter is the highest point of the Giro d’Italia, thus earning Cima Coppi status which carries its own prestige and a prize pot, claimed today by Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) who attacked his breakaway companions with about 53.5 km to go. It took a little while for the breakaway to form, and the peloton briefly found itself in pieces after a tricky first 30 km, but once happy with the 15-long list of escapees, the GC teams applied the brakes and settled things down, allowing dropped riders and key domestiques back into the fold.

West Australian Jai Hindley is now leading the Giro d'Italia after a thriller of a penultimate stage. With just one stage to go, the final 17km time trial ...

“As for the time trial, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. 26yo Hindley said “The Giro is not over yet, but the team and I are very confident.” “We had a plan today and we executed it perfectly,” said a joyful Hindley after popping the Prosecco on the podium.

'I'll die for the jersey': Aussie Hindley on brink of stunning cycling glory.

I knew there was a brutal finish and that you could make a difference,” said the 26-year-old. Hindley will be especially happy with the time gap between him and Carapaz, since the Australian struggles in time trials and lost the 2020 edition of the Giro on the final time trial stage. “We’ll see how it goes.

Don't miss a moment from Paris-Roubaix and Unbound Gravel, to the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and everything in between when you join ...

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. 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. 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

The competition for the maglia rosa came down to the last 5 km of the last climb of the last road stage of the 2022 Giro d'Italia.

“He’s been pretty crucial to have in the car,” Hindley said of the Italian former pro-turned-DS. “He was a really good rider and he was a really calculated rider, and to have that experience in the car is crucial. “Today was a pretty crucial day with the final climb being so hard and I knew that if I wanted to do something in the race it would have to be today, regardless of how the legs were feeling,” Hindley said. “I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to be a professional cyclist and it’s all I’ve dreamed about,” Hindley said. While Hindley was clearly on a very very good day, Carapaz could not boast the same. The 26-year-old has been in this position before, and he faces a historically better time trialist in Carapaz, so he was on a mission to put as much time between them as possible. There is still the dreaded final time trial to come and Hindley needed a decent gap if he was to hold on to the race lead.

Australian Jai Hindley is on the brink of an historic first Australian win at the Giro d'Italia after a blistering ride on the famed Marmolada climb on the ...

Sivakov ground the group down to just the elite climbers and when he started to fade with just under four kilometres to go, Carapaz attacked. The Giro d’Italia 2022 will finish with Stage 21, a 17.4 kilometre time trial in Verona that will decide the winner of the famous maglia rosa. Covi caught and passed his fellow Italian, going solo at the head of the race as an unorganized group of eight including Ciccone, Formolo, Kämna, Arensman, Novak, Pedrero, Oomen and Leemreize. The Pordio - 11.km at 6.8% - was designated the ‘Cima Coppi’ of the 2022 Giro, as the highest point of the whole race at 2239 metres above sea level. Kämna laid down a hard tempo, with Carapaz struggling to maintain the same pace, eventually cracking and dropping away from the BORA-hansgrohe pair. More attacks came from the peloton behind and managed to bridge across.

Jai Hindley dealt a killed blow to Richard Carapaz. The stage win went to Alessandro Covi who attacked the break of the day.

Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 8:55 6. Mikel Landa (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 1:51 4. Hugh Carthy (GB) EF Education-EasyPost at 17:56. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux at 16:04 9. Lennard Kämna (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe at 3:39. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe at 11:18 8. Jai Hindley (Aus) BORA-hansgrohe at 2:30 7. Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 3:04 8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) DSM at 1:50 6. Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar at 1:36 5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 0:37 4. Domen Novak (Slov) Bahrain-Victorious at 0:32 3.

Australian Jai Hindley is on the brink of an historic triumph in the Giro d'Italia after a blistering ride in the tour's penultimate stage.

“I knew if you had the legs you can make a difference. “It was a bumpy road back here and I didn’t know if I was going to get a chance to wear this again, but it’s just an incredible feeling,” said the rider for German team Bora-Hansgrohe. “It was the perfect stage,” declared Hindley, who finished sixth on the stage behind Italian winner Alessandro Covi – but he was still loath to make a prediction of victory ahead of Sunday’s final time trial in Verona.

Jai Hindley is just the second Australian rider to win one of cycling's Grand Tours after Cadel Evans and first to win the Giro d'Italia.

There was to be no such nightmare for the West Australian though, as Hindley allowed just seven seconds of his lead to be taken on the day. Hindley choked up when asked what it meant to be the first Australian to win the Giro d'Italia. Hindley is the first Australian to win the Giro in its 105th edition, bettering his own second-place finish from 2020.

Jai Hindley has etched his name into cycling history, becoming the first Australian to win Italy's grand tour – 20 years after Cadel Evans first wore the ...

In the end, I wanted to take the descent cautiously, and then I gave everything to the line.” To take the win is really incredible. I knew it was a decent ride.

Matteo Sobrero claims victory in final stage 21 time trial in Verona.

He had plenty of time to play with but he gave everything all the way to the line and beyond before a smile broke across his face as he emerged into the amphitheatre. Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) put in a very strong showing to place provisional 10th and move up to ninth overall ahead of Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo), who was more than a minute slower. Tulett was himself then bumped off by Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), the Dutchman finishing strongly despite a more disappointing Giro. That advantage would soon be slimmed as Van der Poel hit the course, but the Dutchman couldn’t seriously challenge the lead. He remained largely seated and in the aero bars on the climb, hitting the top on 14:23 before tearing down the descent in similarly aerodynamic fashion. The 17.4km course made its way through the city before heading out north to tackle the Torricella Massimiliana climb, a 4.5km category 4 ascent with an average gradient of 5%. A 5km descent followed before the flat final few kilometres into the striking Verona amphitheatre. The one mover was Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), who put in a strong rider to place 11th on the day and leapfrog Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) into ninth overall. “It’s really incredible,” Hindley said. Image 1 of 39 Image 1 of 39 Image 1 of 39 Image 1 of 39

Jai Hindley has created history by becoming the first Australian to win the prestigious Giro d'Italia in Verona in the early hours of Monday, AEDT.

Covi won the 168-kilometre stage from Belluno by 32 seconds after his breakaway, but the main drama was going on behind on the Marmolada’s Passo Fedaia as Hindley unleashed his all-out attack to distance Carapaz in the final 2.5 kilometres. The feat ranks second only to the 2011 Tour de France win by Cadel Evans and comes 20 months after Hindley lost the leader’s ‘Maglia Rosa’ (pink leader’s jersey) on the last day in Milan in 2020. Riding for Team Bora-Hansgrohe, the 26-year-old from Perth said he ‘‘gave everything to the line’’ to finish 15th on the 21st and final stage – a 17.4-kilometre individual time-trial stage in Verona.

Jai Hindley secures overall victory at the Giro d'Italia 2022. (Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images). By Pete ...

10. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Trek-Segafredo, at 18-40 9. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost, at 17-54 8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, at 17-29 7. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe, at 13-19 5. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 9-14 2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1-18 3. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 3-24 10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at s.t. 7. Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, at 1-18 5. Ben Tullett (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1-12 4. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-08 2. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM, at 23s

Jai Hindley clinched the overall Giro d'Italiia win on the final day in Verona as Matteo Sobrero won the concluding time trial.

I set my finish line at the top of the climb and I gave everything to there. For the team, we won the first one and we won the last one. There were celebrations for Sobrero in the Italian national time trial champion’s jersey as he won his first career Giro stage.

Jai Hindley won the Giro d'Italia to become the second Australian cyclist to win a Grand Tour after Cadel Evans won the Tour de France.

Nothing went wrong for the Bora–Hansgrohe rider in this year’s race. Then he struggled last year with injury and sickness and withdrew midway through the 2021 Giro due to a saddle sore. “But I didn’t know I would be fighting for the win.”

Hindley breaks new ground as first Australian Giro d'Italia champion, buries memories of near-miss in 2020.

“I was getting the time checks and I knew it was a decent ride so in the end I really wanted to take the descent cautiously… then I gave everything to the line.” It was a bumpy road to get back here again and I didn’t know if I was going to get a chance to wear this again.” “It’s really incredible,” Hindley said, choking up with emotion. Hindley wore the pink jersey for just one stage when he battled Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2020. To take the win … it’s incredible.”

Jai Hindley felt a sense of déjà-vu as he collected himself on the start ramp in Verona, about to set off on the final time trial in the pink of overall ...

“In the end, I took the descent pretty cautiously and then gave it everything to the line. It his first, but also the first for his Bora-Hansgrohe team, born as a lower-level German outfit over a decade ago. “I was getting updates and I felt pretty good on the bike - I wasn’t really fighting it - so I knew I was on a decent ride,” Hindley said.

Western Australian also wins Bora-Hansgrohe's first Grand Tour.

We're all in, we're all in to try and win the race." The Australian can now rest, happy that he has completed the biggest achievement of his career to date. I was receiving the time checks and I knew it was a decent ride, so in the end I really wanted to take the descent pretty cautiously, and then I just gave it everything to the line. That time around the maglia rosa slipped out of his hands on the final day, but this time he had a firm grasp of the lead, and held on for a comprehensive victory. In the three above, and Aleksandr Vlasov and Sergio Higuita, they have a great core of mostly young riders that can challenge at the biggest races in the years to come. In fact, it was one of the best time trials of his career.

Fair dinkum, Jai Hindley wins the Giro d'Italia, as BikeExchange-Jayco's Matteo Sobrero takes the stage on a great day for Australia.

The target was moved by Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), but as the latter crossed the line, Sobrero was already on course and setting the stage alight. The fight for the stage win was got out of the way earlier in the afternoon. Having started the day just 26 seconds ahead of Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), there had been rumblings that the major tussle might be for the minor placings, but the Ecuadorian national champion proved his superiority against the clock, and Landa ends the Giro 3:24 down in third.

Jai Hindley is Australia's newest Grand Tour champion, joining Cadel Evans as the only riders from Australia to stand on the top step of the podium as overall ...

Richie Porte is a two-time winner of the Tour Down Under and, after a seven-year lack of Grand Tour podiums, it was he who kick-started Australia's recent run with his long overdue podium at the 2020 Tour de France. Evans podiumed at all three of cycling's Grand Tours, three times at the Tour de France — including his memorable 2011 triumph — as well as third-place finishes at the Giro in 2013 and Vuelta in 2009. His second-place finish at the 2007 Tour de France started a run of five podium finishes in his next 10 Grand Tour starts. In doing so, he became, at that stage, the third Australian — after Evans and Richie Porte — to finish on the podium of one of cycling's Grand Tours, tantalisingly close to standing on the top step. As can often be the case in cycling, the misfortune of one can offer a huge boost to a rival, and that was the case with the withdrawal of Ineos Grenadiers' super domestique Richie Porte, who withdrew on Friday's 19th stage due to gastro. Jai Hindley is Australia's newest Grand Tour champion, joining Cadel Evans as the only riders from Australia to stand on the top step of the podium as overall race winners.

Jai Hindley had the sweetest of family reunions on Sunday, winning the Giro d'Italia in front of his parents after not having seen them since the start of ...

I’ll save the moment for a long time.” “I was six years old and I wanted to be a footballer. I think at the end of the year I’ll go home and savour every minute of it.” “This race opened my mind on what I can do as a pro cyclist. “Coming into the arena (today) knowing that I’d won the Giro was pretty special.” The next step for Hindley is to make a mark outside of Italy, his home away from home and where he earned the biggest victory of his career. “I didn’t know that was the last time I was going to be back home for a couple of years,” Hindley told reporters.

Jai Hindley has made history, becoming the first Australian to ever win the Giro d'Italia cycling race, and just the second ever to win one of cycling's ...

I wasn't going to let that happen again," Hindley said. "It's a beautiful feeling... Hindley was pushed to his absolute limit in order to claim this victory but was able to hold on to secure the win, claiming the overall event by one minute and 18 seconds.