Australian cyclist Jai Hindley has broken through for an historic win in the Giro d’Italia. He’s the first Aussie to win it and just the second to claim a grand tour win.
Australian cyclist Jai Hindley led rival Richard Carapaz by 85 seconds heading into the final stage of the Giro d’Italia – a race no Aussie had ever won.
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider looked pretty in pink with a one minute, 25 second advantage heading into the race-ending, 17 kilometre individual time trial in Verona.
He got through the final mission unscathed to become just the second from down under to win one of the three grand tour events – the other, of course, being Cadel Evans in the 2011 Tour de France.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhen Hindley was just three seconds behind general classification leader Carapaz, heading into stage 17, that was the smallest margin at that point in the race since 1963.
The 26-year-old from Perth has gone one better than his previous PB in Italy, runner-up in 2020.
Ironically, fellow Aussie Richie Porte was one of the key lieutenants for Carapaz, helping try to deny Australian cycling fans of an extremely rare feat. Carapaz, the 2019 winner, came in as the pre-race favourite.
Hindley turned professional in 2016 when he joined the Attaque Team Gusto and the following year he joined the Mitchelton Scott team.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn 2018, he made his debut for Team Sunweb at the Volta ao Algarve at Portugal and competed at the Vuelta a España – the remaining event that forms the three ‘grand tours’ along with the Giro and Tour de France.
Hindley rode in the 2019 Giro d’Italia and had a successful 2020 season when he won two stages and the general classification in the Herald Sun Tour at Victoria. Amazingly, he is currently ranked 122 in the world on the UCI individual ranking list.
As the 2022 Giro d’Italia entered its final week, Hindley recaptured his best form and rode it all the way to sporting history. What a win.
The Tour de France is the next grand tour event, starting July 1.