Stage 21

The road

At the start

Fifteen kilometres, and an arena

Ivan Basso comes to the final day 1:15 ahead of David Arroyo, with Nibali third at 2:56 and Scarponi one second behind him. Fifteen kilometres around Verona, cut in half by the 277-metre Torricelle and finishing inside the Roman arena, where a bridge has been built to carry the riders in. Arroyo needs seventy-five seconds from a man who has never lost a time trial to him.

How it was won

1. 17 km to go

   The Torricelle check

   The fifteen-kilometre Verona course is cut in two by the 277-metre Torricelle. Gustav Larsson goes over the top eight seconds up on Bradley Wiggins, the man everyone had marked as the favourite.

2. 23 km to go

   Lost on the way down

   The descent into the city is where the day is decided. Wiggins gives away more of it, and Marco Pinotti, Italian time trial champion, loses on it the two seconds that will separate him from the win.

3. 3At the line

   Larsson wins, Basso is crowned

   Larsson stops the clock at 20:19 and waits inside the Roman arena while the rest come home. Basso rides in fifteenth at 42 seconds and, four years after the first one, takes a second Giro d'Italia with his two children on the podium beside him.

The result