Stage 21

The road

At the start

Verona, and 17 kilometres to hold

Jai Hindley rode away from Richard Carapaz on the Marmolada and starts the last day in pink with 1:25 in hand, Mikel Landa third at 1:51. Seventeen and a half kilometres of Verona stand between him and the amphitheatre: flat out, flat back, and the fourth-category Torricelle in the middle. Two years ago he lost this race on the final day, in this jersey, to Tao Geoghegan Hart.

How it was won

1. 18 km to go

   Sobrero flies up Torricella Massimiliana

   The checkpoint sits at the top of the 4.5km category 4 climb. Sobrero stays seated in the aero bars the whole way and hits it in 14:23. Later, Hindley — three seconds down on Carapaz at the foot — springs out of the saddle repeatedly and hauls himself to the top just one second adrift.

2. 23 km to go

   The descent settles the stage

   Sobrero tears down the 5km drop as aerodynamically as he climbed it. Van der Poel passes his minute-man on the way up but cannot claw back a second of his 33-second deficit on the way down.

3. 3At the line

   Hindley crowned in the Verona amphitheatre

   Sobrero stops the clock on 22:24, a full 1:17 quicker than anyone else. Then only Hindley is left on the road, conceding seven seconds to Carapaz and needing none of the 1:25 he built on the Marmolada. He emerges into the arena and the smile finally breaks — two years after losing this race on the final day, an Australian wins the Giro d'Italia.

The result