Tao Geoghegan Hart wins the Giro d'Italia in Final Time Trial Showdown

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) beat Jai Hindley by 39 seconds as teammate Filippo Ganna wins the Final Time Trial in Milan

Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart of Team Ineos won cycling's Giro d'Italia on Sunday ahead of Australian rival Jai Hindley after the final stage race against the clock.

Geoghegan Hart had been on the same time as Hindley going into the final 21st stage but finished 39 seconds ahead of the Team Sunweb rider.

"It's going to take a long time to sink in," said the Londoner.

"He kept giving me a few seconds and I knew not to take any risks."

"It feels incredible to arrive here in front of the Duomo," Geoghegan Hart said.

World champion Filippo Ganna of Italy was first in the 15.7km time-trial which finished in front of Milan's Duomo Cathedral.

Geoghegan Hart won Saturday's 20th stage, edging Hindley, with for the first time in a Grand Tour two riders going head-to-head for the title in the final time-trial.

But the suspense did not last until the line with Hindley, wearing the pink jersey, dropping 22 seconds at the intermediary stage after 10.3km.

The 24-year-old nevertheless becomes the first Australian on the Giro Podium.

Geoghegan Hart, 25, is the second British rider to win the race around Italy, two years after Chris Froome.

Neither rider had been their team leader when the race got underway in Sicily three weeks ago. Ineos lost Geraint Thomas to a broken pelvis in stage four.

The victory was a boost for Ineos who had a disappointing Tour de France with defending champion Egan Bernal's withdrawal, while Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz did not defend his Giro d'Italia title but competed in the Vuelta a Espana.

Giro champion Tao Geoghegan Hart said "Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine this would be possible when we started out in Sicily almost a month ago,” says Tao Geoghegan Hart. "All my career I’ve dreamt of trying to be top 10, top 5 maybe, in a race of this stature, so this is something completely and utterly different to that and I think it’s going to take a long time for this to sink in."

VIDEO: 2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 21 Highlights

2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 21 Top 10

1 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:17:16
2 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:32
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers
4 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:41
5 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
6 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 0:00:44
7 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
8 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:46
9 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 0:00:47
10 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 

2020 Giro d'Italia GC after Stage 21

1 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 85:40:21
2 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:39
3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:29
4 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:57
5 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:03:09
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:07:02
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:15
8 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:08:42
9 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:09:57
10 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren 0:11:05