Australia's Jai Hindley wins Giro d'Italia

Jai Hindley won the Giro d'Italia on Sunday after making his way through the final stage time-trial in Verona to claim his first Grand Tour

Bora Hansgrohe rider Hindley put himself in an almost unassailable position when he snatched the pink jersey from Richard Carapaz on the final climb of Saturday's brutal mountain stage.

The Australian had a cushion of almost a minute and a half and rolled triumphantly into Verona's ancient Roman Arena after easily holding off his Ecuadorian rival.

Italian Matteo Sobrero took the honours on the final stage on a cool day in northeastern Italy, setting the fastest time of 22 minutes, 24.54 seconds early in the day.

"It's an amazing feeling, I still need ot recognise everything," Sobrero said.

"I'm really happy with the team, we win on the first day and we win on the last day. All the work is paying off."

Hindley banished the memory of his gutting final-stage defeat in 2020, where his weakness in time-trials cost him the overall victory at the death.

Having taken the pink jersey also in that year's the 20th stage he was pipped in the climatic time-trial in Milan by Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart.

However this year he had no such problems, his stunning display on the Passo Fedaia in the Dolomites on Saturday supplying him with enough room to relieve most of the pre-race pressure and helping him become his country's first Giro winner.

"To have won the Giro, that's really incredible. I felt pretty good on the time trial bike today. When I heard the interval times, I knew I was doing well. I was pretty cautious going downhill, but then I gave it my all until the end. Winning here is a wonderful feeling and I have so many emotions. In the back of my mind, of course, I was still thinking about what happened in 2020 at the Giro and to be honest, I didn't want that to happen again. Last year was very difficult and I fought really hard to be here again. But I didn't know I would be fighting for the win here. Two days ago I heard that my parents were coming here, and I haven't seen them since early 2020, so today was very special. I'm proud to be Australian and I'm happy to take home this trophy." said Jai Hindley.

VIDEO: 2022 Giro d'Italia Stage 21 Highlights

2022 Giro d'Italia Stage 21 Top 10

1 ITA Matteo Sobrero Team BikeExchange-Jayco 22:24
2 NED Thymen Arensman Team DSM + 23
3 NED Mathieu van der Poel Alpecin-Fenix + 40
4 NED Bauke Mollema Trek-Segafredo + 01:08
5 GBR Ben Tulett INEOS Grenadiers + 01:12
6 SUI Mauro Schmid Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 01:17
7 DEN Magnus Cort EF Education-EasyPost + 01:18
8 NOR Tobias Foss Jumbo-Visma + 01:19
9 AUS Michael Hepburn Team BikeExchange-Jayco + 01:24
10 ECU Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers + 01:24

2022 Giro d'Italia Final GC Top 10

01 AUS Jai Hindley BORA-hansgrohe 86:31:14
02 ECU Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers + 01:18
03 ESP Mikel Landa Bahrain Victorious + 03:24
04 ITA Vincenzo Nibali Astana Qazaqstan Team + 09:02
05 ESP Pello Bilbao Bahrain Victorious + 09:14
06 CZE Jan Hirt Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 09:28
07 GER Emanuel Buchmann BORA-hansgrohe + 13:19
08 ITA Domenico Pozzovivo Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 17:29
09 GBR Hugh Carthy EF Education-EasyPost + 17:54
10 ESP Juan Pedro Lopez Trek-Segafredo + 18:40