Milan (AFP)

Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos) won the Giro d'Italia at 25, Sunday in Milan, ahead of his rival, Australian Jai Hindley (Sunweb), 2nd at 39 seconds while they were only separated by 86 / 100th of a second at the start of the day.

The 21st stage, a 15.7 km time trial, went to the Italian Filippo Ganna, world champion in the discipline who won all three times of this Giro 2020.

Ganna, winner at an average speed of more than 54 km / h, brought a seventh success to the British team Ineos who won a third of the stages of the event despite the retirement on the third day of the race of their leader, the Welshman Geraint Thomas.

In a race rich in firsts, - since two riders had never presented themselves yet at the start of the last stage of the Giro on a level playing field - Geoghegan Hart donned his first pink jersey on the last day of the race, at the 'arrival in Milan.

Between Hindley and Geoghegan Hart, tied for time at the start of the 15.7 kilometers, the suspense only lasted a few moments.

Hindley, who wore the pink jersey, had already dropped 22 seconds in the intermediate score, after 10.3 kilometers.

Hindley, 24, however, becomes the first Australian to appear on the Giro's podium.

Geogeghan Hart, 25, is the second Briton to win the centenary race, created in 1909, two years after Chris Froome, who had achieved an incredible turnaround two days from the finish in 2018.

- Lieutenant -

Since his professional debut in 2017, in the Sky team which became Ineos, the Londoner had only two stage successes in the 2019 Tour des Alpes. Until now, he was confined to a role of lieutenant for his leaders.

For Ineos, by far the richest team in the peloton, the performance has the value of partial revenge after its scathing failure in the Tour de France.

The outgoing winner, the Colombian Egan Bernal, designated sole leader, had to retire in the third week.

In the final Giro standings, the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman took third place, 1 min 29 sec behind the winner, and the Portuguese Joao Almeida, long leader of the event, the fourth.

This 103rd edition of the Giro was able to go to completion despite the sharp upsurge in Covid-19 cases in Italy, like the rest of Europe.

Several riders, including two podium candidates (S. Yates, Kruijswijk), tested positive for the coronavirus and two teams (Mitchelton, Jumbo) chose to withdraw before the halfway point.

But the race was able to take place at the cost of drastic measures, in particular the absence of an audience at the finish to greet the final winner in front of the Duomo in Milan.

© 2020 AFP