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Tao Geoghegan Hart has become the fifth Briton to win a Grand Tour with victory at the Giro d’Italia.
The 25-year-old beat Australian Jai Hindley by 39 seconds in the closing 15.7 km time trial in Milan after the pair made it to the final stage on time.
Geoghegan Hart was ahead of Hindley in all time on the road, clocking in a time of 18 minutes 19.40 seconds to deliver a remarkable victory. His Ineos Grenadiers teammate, Filippo Ganna, claimed the stage victory with a time of 17 minutes 16.55 seconds, 32 seconds faster than runner-up Victor Campenaerts, to claim his fourth stage victory of the race and the seventh for the team.
Geoghegan Hart follows Sir Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates in winning one of the three big stage races on the calendar, clinching Britain’s eleventh victory since Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2012, and the second at the Giro after Froome in 2018.
This was by far the most unexpected entry on the list, as Geoghegan Hart started the Giro planning to support Thomas before the Welshman’s career crash on stage three.
Geoghegan Hart donned the pink jersey for the first time on the final podium after the race was reduced to two riders who started the opening stage in Sicily three weeks ago as domestics.
“It’s weird, to be honest,” Geoghegan Hart. “Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this would be possible when we started almost a month ago in Sicily.
“For my entire career I’ve dreamed of trying to be in the top five, maybe top 10 in a race of this stature, so this is something else entirely. I think it will take a long time to sink in. “
An outstanding final week in the mountains propelled Geoghegan Hart up the rankings, with his victory on Saturday’s stage 20 setting the unprecedented stage for the top two on a Grand Tour leveled on time at the start of the final day.
After winning Saturday’s mountain stage at the Sestriere ski resort, 25-year-old Geoghegan Hart lived up to Hindley, a situation of tension and tension unprecedented after more than 85 hours of racing. Both have completed the first 20 stages in an official time of 85 hours, 22 minutes and seven seconds.
It is Great Britain’s second victory at the Giro d’Italia in three years after Chris Froome’s last win in 2018.
William Fotheringham’s career report will follow shortly.
