Stage 21

The road

At the start

Thirty kilometres to the Duomo

Egan Bernal carries 1:59 over Damiano Caruso and 3:23 over Simon Yates into a flat time trial to the Piazza del Duomo, twice as long as the one that let Tao Geoghegan Hart steal the maglia rosa a year ago. The arithmetic is comfortable — Caruso is no time triallist — but Bernal has ridden three weeks on a back that failed him last summer. Ganna wants his own ending.

How it was won

1. 115 km to go

   Ganna flying again

   The world champion is fastest at every intermediate check and passes four riders who started before him, averaging almost 54kph through the streets of Milan.

2. 23 km to go

   A puncture, late

   Ganna picks up a flat near the end of his ride. The bike change is quick, but he shakes his head as he crosses the line knowing exactly what it cost.

3. 3At the line

   The Duomo

   Bernal rides the closing straight with his arms in the air. He concedes thirty seconds to Caruso and it never matters — two years after the Tour de France, and after a back injury that nearly ended him, he wins the Giro d'Italia.

The result