'I'll die for the Maglia Rosa': Jai Hindley climbs to Giro lead on penultimate day

Only 17.4-kilometres stand between Jai Hindley and greatness at the Giro d’Italia.

The 26-year-old climber from Perth stands at the precipice of history tonight in the final Stage 21 time trial in Verona, with an advantage of one minute 25 seconds to his closest rival Richard Carapaz.

Hindley attacked his way into the lead of the 2022 Giro during the penultimate stage to Marmolada on Saturday, attacking the Ecuadorian INEOS Grenadiers leader in the final kilometres of the Passo Fedaia.

The Midland Cycle Club product’s attack began to crack Carapaz in sync with finding teammate Lennard Kämna, who had been in the breakaway, and promptly pushed with all his remaining energy for several hundred metres to break open the gap between Hindley and Carapaz.

That gap eventually grew to one minute 28 seconds at the finish, with Hindley taking charge of the race for the Maglia Rosa at the perfect moment.

“I knew this was going to be the crucial stage of the race … it was just a brutal finish,” Hindley said.

“If you had the legs then you could make a difference here and you know, we stayed patient, we really just saved our matches until today.

“It was perfect, Lenny (Kämna) was up the road in the breakaway and he couldn’t have timed it better to drop back and give me a boost up the road.

“When I heard Carapaz was dropping the wheel I just went all out - it was an epic stage.”

Hindley’s heroics bring back memories of his breakthrough 2020 Giro, which ended with heartbreak in a final stage individual time trial defeat to INEOS’ Tao Geoghegan Hart by 39 seconds.

However, this time around the West Australian enters with a time advantage that inspires much more confidence than the zero-second buffer in 2020.

“I don’t know (how the final stage will go) – we'll see how it goes,” Hindley said.

“I mean, it’s always hard to say how a time trial is going to go on the last day of a three-week race but I’ll die for the jersey tomorrow.”

A victorious day for Hindley in Verona will be a first for Australian cycling at the Giro.

It would also make him the second Grand Tour winner of all time from down under alongside Cadel Evans.

Photo: Giro d'Italia