• Giro This is how the general classification was

At the age of 14,

Jai Hindley

, in the living room of his parents' house in Perth, was captivated in front of the television watching the struggles of the Australian

Cadel Evans

with

Alberto Contador

and

Andy Schleck

in the 2011 Tour de France. That edition was won by his compatriot in the Grenoble time trial after enduring an anthological attack from the Pinteño the previous day, when he escaped 17 kilometers after the start and broke the race to pieces.

The man from Madrid rode the Telégraphe and Galibier crests and only succumbed a few meters from Alpe D'Huez.

Evans exhibited great agonistic ability on the ramps of the emblematic mountain and only lost 57 seconds to

Pierre Roland

(the winner) and just over half a minute with the Spanish (third).

The Tour was in the hands of the Australian, because he was the most powerful in the time trial of the following day.

Those fights captivated a skinny kid, who shortly after finishing the stages would get on his bike and fly through the streets of Perth dreaming that one day he would be like Evans, world champion in 2009. He loved how his compatriot challenged some enemies that they were more skillful on the summits,

but weaker on the plain.

Evans' effort and ability to overcome inspired Hindley, who this Sunday has crowned a round that he had left on track on Saturday at the Marmolada.

The Australian, in the 17.4-kilometre time trial in Verona, on rough terrain, suitable for long-distance runners and strength, was won by

Matteo Sobrero

(current champion of the Italian specialty), with a time of 22.24 minutes.

Hindley took no risks and finished in 15th place, 1.31 behind the winner.

The Australian made seven seconds more than

Richard Carapaz

, who kept second place overall without any problems.

Mikel Landa

(third on the podium) signed a poor time trial, with a record of 25.28, which was 1.40 more than the Ecuadorian.

The Basque had a worse time than

Juanpe López

(25.06), tenth overall, one place ahead of

Alejandro Valverde

.

Fifth overall finished

Pello Bilbao

.

Cycling is a third-tier sport in Australia, however, it has had notable runners, especially sprinters and time trialists, such as

Phil Anderson

,

Allan Davis

,

McEwen

,

Rogers

,

O'Grady

,

Rohan Dennis

,

Caleb Ewan

,

Stephens

or

Gerrans

.

But few top climbers have opted for the grand tours.

Evans and, to a lesser extent,

Richie Porte

have been the most notable.

Now he has picked up his legacy Jai Hindley (Perth, 1996), the first

Aussie

to win the Giro d'Italia.

Hindley is a long-distance runner who handles the most demanding exercises in the mountains well.

He runs against it, waiting for the weaknesses of the enemies to surface to strike, as he did last Saturday at the Marmolada.

He also has a top speed uphill that gives him good returns, as he confirmed in the stage victory in Blockhaus.

A cyclist who broke into the pros in 2016, two years after Evans retired.

in 2017 he signed for Mitchelton Scott, the best team in his country.

In 2018 he joined

Dumoulin

's Sunweb , with that squad he presented his credentials in the big rounds.

In 2021 he finished second in the Giro, he lost the pink

jersey

on the last day, being beaten by 39 seconds by the British

Geoghegan Hart

in the Milan time trial.

He won the Lago de Cancano stage, which included the ascent to the Stelvio.

The Australian has grown up fast.

This year, at Bora, he has settled debts with history.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Australia

  • Alberto counter

  • Italy