The 105th Giro d’Italia concluded on Sunday with Australia’s Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) taking the overall victory. The Australian entered the Giro’s final weekend just three seconds behind Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) on the race’s General Classification, and pulled on the Maglia Rosa after dropping Carapaz on the Passo Fedaia, the final climb of Saturday’s Stage 20. Hindley ended the day 1:25 ahead of Carapaz on GC, which was more than enough to defend the jersey on Sunday’s final stage, a 17km individual time trial in Verona.

Carapaz ended the Giro second overall, 1:18 behind Hindley, and Spain’s Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) finished third at 3:24. As if anyone wonders just how hard this year’s Giro was, the fourth-placed rider, Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)–himself a two-time winner of the event–ended the race 9:02 behind Hindley. While Hindley isn’t a household name, let there be no doubt: he’s a worthy winner–and one of the sport’s rising stars.

Here’s a look at some of the Giro’s winners and losers, as well as a look ahead to the season’s next big rendezvous: the 2022 Tour de France.

Winners

Jai Hindley

We owe Hindley an apology: we didn’t include him on our list of pre-race favourites. Yes, he finished second overall at the Giro in 2020, and even wore the Maglia Rosa heading into the final stage (also an individual time trial). But the race that year was moved to October due to COVID-19 and the competition wasn’t all that impressive. Last year he didn’t even finish the race, dropping out on Stage 13. And then he changed teams, moving from Team DSM to BORA-hansgrohe.

But shame on us for not taking him seriously. After starting the Giro as one of his team’s three protected riders, Hindley proved to be the most consistent, ever-present at the front of the race and scooping up bonus seconds whenever he could. His win atop the Blockhaus at the end of Stage 9 announced his intentions, and he delivered all the way to the end.

His performance at the end of Stage 20 was a masterpiece. After letting Bahrain-Victorious set the pace for much of the day, Hindley was happy to let INEOS take over on behalf of Carapaz once Bahrain burned all of its matches, perhaps already aware that Carapaz wasn’t at his best.

When the road steepened about 5km from the summit of the Fedaia, Hindley and the now-isolated Carapaz caught Hindley’s teammate Lennard Kämna (who spent most of the day in the breakaway), who then used the last of his reserves to up the pace one more time. As soon as Carapaz’s front wheel began to drift backwards, Hindley made his move. He quickly got a gap, and steadily added to his advantage up the rest of the climb.

Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault once said that bike racing is about licking your opponent’s plate clean before starting on your own. Hindley seems to have taken those words to heart in becoming the first Australian to win the Giro d’Italia.

BORA-hansgrohe

Hindley’s victory is also the first Grand Tour victory for Germany’s BORA-hansgrohe, a team that underwent a major transformation this past off-season when it let Peter Sagan and several of his teammates leave for greener pastures (i.e. more money).

Aware that Sagan’s best days were behind him, and confident in its own ability to develop a new generation of champions, the team shifted its priorities from winning Classics and Grand Tour stages, to scoring high GC finishes. Interestingly, it’s the three riders the team plucked from Team Sunweb/DSM (Hindley, Kämna, and Dutchman Wilco Kelderman) who have made the biggest difference.

Now they head to the Tour de France, where the team will likely be led by Colombia’s Sergio Higuita, who left EF Education during the off-season. Higuita won the Volta a Catalunya in March, an impressive victory that bodes well for his chances in July. The team will be riding a wave of confidence following Hindley’s Giro; UAE Team Emirates, INEOS Grenadiers, and Jumbo-Visma better watch out.

Jumbo-Visma

Speaking of Jumbo-Visma, after watching its own GC hopes go out the window during the first week, the Dutch team gave everyone a chance to shoot for stage wins, which gave Koen Bouwman an opportunity to ride for himself. The 28-year-old Dutchman responded by winning two stages and the Maglia Azzurra (“blue jersey”) as the winner of the Giro’s King of the Mountains Classification.

Great teams always find ways to win–even after that their first, second, and sometimes third options come up short. Bouwman’s performance meant the team didn’t go home empty-handed, and probably earned him a big raise the next time his contract is renewed.

Arnaud Démare

France’s Démare (Groupama-FDJ) has always scored his best wins in Italy. Winner of Milano-Sanremo in 2016, the 30-year-old sprinted to three stage wins this year to bring his career total to eight. His consistency netted him the Maglia Ciclamino (“cyclamen jersey”) as the winner of the Giro’s Points Classification, the second time he’s won the competition. Most French teams don’t put too much stock in the Italian Grand Tour, but Groupama is a multinational corporation and the team’s been desperate for World Tour points, so Démare’s performance is a boon for the squad’s future prospects.

Alpecin-Fenix and Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux

Speaking of future prospects, the Giro performances of Alpecin-Fenix and Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux confirmed each team’s bright future. Alpecin-Fenix won three stages and spent three days in pink thanks to Mathieu van der Poel’s win on Stage 1. But even after the Dutchman turned over the lead, the team kept fighting, winning two more stages. The success must have pleased the team’s sponsors: on the Rest Day after Stage 9, the team announced it would be moving to the WorldTour in 2023.

Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux moved to the WorldTour prior to 2022, and it quickly showed everyone that it belongs. The team won two stages at the Giro: Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay took Stage 10, and the Czech Republic’s Jan Hirt won Stage 16. As an added bonus, Hirt and teammate Domenico Pozzovivo both finished in the Giro’s top-10 overall, impressive performances for a squad who came to the race looking to make the most of whatever opportunities presented themselves. Now they head to the Tour hoping to take the stage win that has eluded them so far.

Trek-Segafredo

Trek-Segafredo also came to the race looking to ride opportunistically. The strategy seemed to work, with Italy’s Giulio Ciccone winning Stage 15 and Spain’s Juan Pedro López spending 10 days in the pink jersey and then winning the Maglia Bianca (“white jersey”) as the Giro’s Best Young Rider. In all the team took 15 trips to the podium, which certainly made the team’s Italian co-sponsor feel good about its investment.

Losers

INEOS Grenadiers

For INEOS, this is a crushing defeat. Carapaz is generally considered to be one of the sport’s three to five best Grand Tour riders, and to lose the race in the mountains (his favourite terrain) on the Giro’s penultimate stage is a major disappointment.

On the Fedaia, the team really missed Australia’s Richie Porte, who abandoned the Giro due to illness the day before. Porte is a former Grand Tour contender himself who helped Team Sky (now INEOS) win the Tour de France in 2012, 2013, and 2015. His talent and experience would surely have helped Carapaz at the end of Stage 20, perhaps giving the team someone to help offset the strength of BORA-hansgrohe when it mattered most.

To make matters worse, this might have been the team’s best chance to win a Grand Tour this year. Egan Bernal’s fitness is in question after the Colombian collided with a car while training in January, and the Tour’s top contenders–Slovenian’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma)–are much better than the riders Carapaz faced at the Giro. Winning the Tour of Italy would have taken some pressure off the British team heading into the most important race of its season.

World Tour Bubble Teams

Heading into the 2023 season, the sport’s top-18 teams will comprise the men’s WorldTour, with teams qualifying based on points they’ve gained over the course of the last three seasons. This essentially means that teams in the current WorldTour–if they don’t perform well–will get relegated to UCI Professional Continental status, which means less access to the sport’s best races.

Several of the teams facing relegation were hoping to score points at the Giro, and few of them delivered. Lotto-Soudal won a stage thanks to Thomas De Gendt on Stage 8, and EF Education-EasyPost’s Hugh Carthy finished ninth overall. But there was little to write home about for Cofidis and Israel-Premier Tech. There’s still lots of season left, but time’s running out. If these don’t start scoring some WorldTour wins, they’ll be on the outside looking in next year.

Mark Cavendish

Yes, Mark Cavendish won Stage 3 to take the 16th Giro stage win of his career, but that was the high point of his Giro. So while we’re still holding out hope that Cav makes Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s Tour de France squad, he didn’t deliver the type of performance that would have made his inclusion a no-brainer. To make matters worse: Fabio Jakobsen, who’s currently penciled in as Quick Step’s sprinter for the Tour, won three stages at the Tour of Hungary while Cav was at the Giro, albeit against lesser competition.

The good news is that Cav finished the race, which shows how motivated he is and the extra miles will certainly help in July–if he gets the call. But with rumours about where he’ll ride next year already starting to swirl, we can’t help but wonder if his sport director and friend Brian Holm is right: Cav blew his shot at breaking Eddy Merckx’s Tour de France stage win record last year.

What’s Next

 

With the Giro in the books, it’s time to set our sights on the Tour de France, which starts on July 1 in Copenhagen, Denmark. None of the Giro’s top overall contenders are expected to be on the Tour’s starting line, but a few other riders–Van der Poel, for example–have already said they’re planning on making the trip in the hopes of winning a stage or two.

 

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The Tour’s top two contenders–Slovenian’s Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Roglič (Jumbo-Visma)–have spent the past several weeks training with their teams. Each will compete one more time before the start of the Tour: Roglič will start the Critérium du Dauphiné this Saturday in France; while Pogačar is not expected to race until the Tour of Slovenia, which begins on June 15.

The rest of the Tour’s contenders will divide themselves between the Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse. The Swiss national tour starts a bit later than the Dauphiné, so it often features a handful of Giro protagonists hoping to capitalise on the fitness they gained in Italy. It’s also the perfect choice for Tour de France contenders hoping to time their best form for the final week of the Tour de France.