Giro d'Italia stage 21 - Live coverage

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the final stage of the 2022 Giro d'Italia

Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) is the first rider to finish his Giro d'Italia with a time of 24:56.43. That will be the time to beat for now. 

The Austrian TT champion, Matthias Brändle (Israel - Premier Tech), is about to finish his effort. 

Brändle looks to be happy to have this Giro done and dusted and finishes provisional 5th at 2:32 down on Serry. 

Arnaud Démare is on course and on his way to taking home his second maglia ciclamino. 

Julius van den Berg (EF Education - EasyPost) has set the fastest intermediate time with a 15:59. That's eight seconds faster than Serry. 

It's raining at the moment, but the forecast predicts it will stop by the time we see the GC riders take the start. 

Julius van den Berg has just crossed the line and posted up a time of 24:53.69, which is the new fast time. He's slid into provisional first by 2 seconds ahead of Serry. 

Lawson Craddock sets out in his stars and stripes jersey as US TT champion. 

Now Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama - FDJ) is hearing the countdown. He's done plenty of work to help his teammate and sprinter Demare claim the maglia ciclamino for the second time and will look forward to celebrating with his team later. 

Miles Scotson (Groupama - FDJ) is about to finish. He won't beat Julius van den Berg's time but will slot into provisional third. 

We're on to one of the favourites, Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma). He's on his home roads, and lives just 40 minutes away. 

Craddock has just caught and passed Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) on the climb. We'll soon see what his intermediate time is. 

There's been a shift at the halfway point. Michael Hepburn (Team BikeExchange - Jayco) has the new fastest time at 9.4km with a 15:10. Craddock is a hefty 26 seconds behind. 

Michael Hepburn (Team BikeExchange - Jayco) sets the new fastest time after blazing across the 17.4 km out and back course. He's more than a minute faster than van den Berg at 23:48. 

Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) is about to catch and pass Jorge Arcas (Movistar Team). He's coming up on the intermediate time check, so we'll soon see how he's going.

Edoardo Affini isn't going to better the time of Hepburn at the top of the hill. He's 13 seconds slower. 

But wait! Magnus Cort sets the fastest time at 9.4km with a 15:04, five seconds clear of Michael Hepburn. He's looking pretty good out there on course.

Thomas De Gendt is in the start house. Known for his breakaway prowess as well as never warming up for TTs. 

Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) finishes his time trial 5 seconds slower than Hepburn, slotting into second. 

Magnus Cort (EF Education - EasyPost) is powering to the finish, he'll cross the line 6.5 seconds faster than Hepburn. Cort is the new leader.

Matteo Sobrero (Team BikeExchange - Jayco) has just taken the start. He's another big favourite to win here today. 

Top three provisionally:

1. Magnus Cort (EF Education - EasyPost) - 23:42.12

2. Michael Hepburn (Team BikeExchange - Jayco) - +0:06.47

3. Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) - +0:12.04

Matteo Sobrero (Team BikeExchange - Jayco), the Italian TT champ, will soon hit the climb. 

Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) is another handy rider in the TT. He's a multi-time Spanish champion in the discipline and about to start down the ramp. 

Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) is on a good ride, he's third at the intermediate split, 17 seconds off the pace of Cort. 

And more big names are starting. This time it's Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), winner of the first stage of the Giro. He looks like he's in a determined mood. 

Matteo Sobrero obliterates the time of Magnus Cort at the intermediate split. He's 41 seconds faster than the Danish rider. 

The roads are starting to dry out from the rain earlier in the day. 

Wow! Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) comes across with the fastest time, fractions of a second faster than Magnus Cort. He made up 17 seconds on Cort at the intermediate sprint. 

But Schmid's time in the hot seat will be short lived, because Sobrero just came flying through the finish and takes the lead by more than a minute!

Sobrero clocked a 22:24.54, which was 1:16 faster than second place. That'll be a tough time to beat. 

Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) gets over the top of the climb with 33 seconds to make up on Sobrero. 

Mathieu van der Poel has caught and passed Barta on the descent. 

Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) is about to start, he's followed by Attila Valter (Groupama - FDJ). 

Van der Poel will have to settle for the solitary stage win he took 24 days ago in Hungary. He's not going to unseat Sobrero but will feel accomplished as this is the first grand tour he's completed. 

Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) is about to close out his Giro with a good result. He'll come across the line with a time of 23:43 for provisional fourth. 

We're closing in on the final 25 riders. Next off is Gijs Leemreize. 

Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) is putting in a good ride that might be close to Mathieu van der Poel's time at the intermediate time check. 

Well, not quite. He is 51 seconds down on Sobrero's time at the intermediate split, which puts him into fifth.

Our attention now turns to Lennard Kamna. He's had a lot of success here at this Giro. He won the Mount Etna stage and has been so solid the entire three weeks. 

Some big names yet to come, including Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), who is next out of the start house. He'll be chasing Wilco Kelderman (Bora - Hansgrohe). 

We've reached the final 10 riders - so from here on, the intervals will be set at three minutes apart. Carthy is next to go. 

Juan Pedro López (Trek - Segafredo) is about to set off. He was in the pink jersey for 10 days at the beginning of this race. 

Juan Pedro López is also leading the best young rider competition by almost 6 minutes ahead of Santiago Buitrago. 

Bauke Mollema (Trek - Segafredo) has finished his effort to slot into provisional third ahead of Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers). Mollema was a minute and 8 seconds off the pace of Sobrero. 

Emanuel Buchmann (Bora - Hansgrohe) starts with a smile on his face. He's sitting seventh overall and likely looking forward to the festivities after the race. 

Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) finishes up, sealing his lead of the mountains classification. He's the first Dutch rider to ever win this classification at the Giro. History made. 

Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) clocks a fabulous time of 22:47, which puts him into second ahead of van der Poel. Arensman was 22 seconds slower than Sobrero, who let out a sigh of relief in the hot seat. 

Nibali has just started his final stage of the Giro d'Italia. Plenty of Nibali fans here today to see the "Shark."

We're moments away from seeing the top three riders put on one last show. Landa is on his way. In three minutes we'll see Carapaz, then Hindley. 

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) sets out on course. The difference between him and Hindley is 1:25. 

Hindley is underway! He has 17.4km to race before he can celebrate winning the maglia rosa. 

The crowd is going wild for Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan Team), who is a two-time winner of the Giro and will finish 5th in this year's edition. 

Hindley has started his final climb at the Giro d'Italia. He doesn't have long before he reaches the end and prepares for the podium. 

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan Team) has crested the climb with a deficit of almost 2 minutes at the intermediate split.

Carapaz is gaining a little time on Hindley, but it's only four seconds at this point. 

Carapaz gets to the intermediate check point with a time of 15:20, which is the 10th fastest time so far. It's 57 seconds slower than Sobrero. 

The beautiful views of Verona welcome the riders after three weeks of racing. 

Jai Hindley is staying in control of this, and passes the intermediate check very close to Carapaz's time. 

Carapaz rounds the corner to the finish line giving it everything. He'll finish 10th on the day and second in the Giro d'Italia. 

Hindley is less than 2km away from claiming overall victory at the Giro! 

Hindley has one final corner and then be the first man from Australia to win the Giro d'Italia!

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider smiles after he crosses the line. He rides into the Verona Arena to hundreds of fans cheering his name. 

Well done to the winner of the stage, Matteo Sobrero! Here's a look at the provisional top 3 on stage 21:

1. Matteo Sobrero (BEX) 22:24

2. Thymen Arensman (DSM) +0:23

3. Mathieu Van Der Poel (AFC) +0:40

Provisional GC after 21 stages:

1. Jai Hindley (BOH) 86:31:14

2. Richard Carapaz (IGD) +1:18

3. Mikel Landa (TBV) +3:24

Jai Hindley - Winner of the 2022 Giro d'italia

“It a beautiful feeling. I was getting updates and I felt pretty good on the bike - I wasn’t really fighting it - so I knew I was on a decent ride. In the end, I took the descent pretty cautiously and then gave it everything to the line. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Here's our full race report by Patrick Fletcher on how Sobrero took charge on the final day, and Jai Hindley's ride into Australia's first maglia rosa. 

Jai Hindley wins 2022 Giro d'Italia