Richard Carapaz wins the 2019 Giro d'Italia

Richard Carapaz (Movistar) completed a flawless execution of the 2019 Giro d'Italia, speeding home to hold onto the overall victory in the 17km time trial in Verona. It was a historic ride by Carapaz who made history as the first Ecuadorian Grand Tour champion.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) put in a spirited effort to hold onto second place at 1:05, while Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) bumped Mikel Landa (Movistar) off the final podium by eight seconds for third overall, 2:30 behind Carapaz.

The emotional final stage victory went to American Chad Haga (Team Sunweb), who overhauled Victor Campenaerts' (Lotto Soudal) pace-setting effort to sit in the hot seat for the bulk of the day. His time of 22:07 was four seconds faster than the Belgian, and six up on Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), who took third on the day. It's by far the biggest win of Haga's career and saves a Giro for his team, who finished with just four riders.

After two and a half hours in the hot seat, Haga beamed as Roglic failed to threaten his time, heaving a huge sigh of relief before the tears of realization of his victory began to flow.

"I thought of my dad and my wife, I thought that Roglic must be tired," said Haga after the finish. "I had to believe that Roglic was tired. I don't even know… The way my legs felt yesterday I fully believed I could win today, I just had to do it, and I was right.

"[After Dumoulin's abandon] we showed that we came here in good shape ready to fight for him. I was sad to see him go, and I would much rather have been here celebrating another victory with him. But to make a victory here today, I don't even know.

"Following the last time trial, I knew that I'm time trialling very well and this one suits me better than the last. Thanks to the team for allowing me to not to much the last two weeks and focus on today. I had the exact preparation I want, the team treated me like I was Tom Dumoulin today, with 100 per cent focus, and I paced exactly the way I wanted to."

Carapaz's pink jersey was confirmed in Verona, and so too were the other prizes of the Giro. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) wins the blue jersey of the mountain classification, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) took the white young riders jersey, while Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) became the first German to win the points classification.

The minor classifications saw Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) win the intermediate sprint competition as well as the combativity prize. Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) took the breakaway competition after 932km in the break, while Movistar predictably won the team classification.

How it unfolded

The final stage of the 2019 Giro d'Italia, took in a 17 kilometre route around Verona, a host for the race finish for the first time since 2010 when Gustav Erik Larsson won the stage. Knut Knudsen and, more famously, Moreno Moser, won the stage 22 time trials in the city back in 1981 and 1984.

With the destination of the maglia rosa already decided, barring disaster for Carapaz, Sunday's stage would see a battle for the final victory of the Giro, as well as a fight between Roglic and Landa for third overall. The main obstacle of the day came in the form of the 4.5km, 4.6 per cent average Torricelle climb. After a speedy but technical descent back into the city, the finish came outside the ancient amphitheatre, the Arena di Verona.

Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates), was unsurprisingly the fastest man of the early runners, overtaking his one- and two-minute men to set a time of 22:41. Three minutes later, Sho Hatsuyama (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) crossed the line and was given a specially-made maglia nera in the arena, as the last man in the general classification.

Josef Cerny (CCC Team) was the first man to beat Bohli's time, 23 seconds better than the Swiss. Meanwhile, out on course stage favourite Campenaerts blitzed the checkpoint, 31 seconds up on Bohli and 6 up on Cerny. The Hour Record holder duly went fastest at the finish, with a time of 22:11, but surprisingly he wouldn't last long in the hot seat.

As one-quarter of Team Sunweb's remaining squad, Haga has taken it relatively easy since the San Marino time trial, finishing in the top 100 on a stage on just one occasion. That 'rest' paid off in Verona as he overhauled Campenaerts, going four seconds faster at the finish to take his place at the top of the standings.

A number of strong time trialists came and went, not getting close to Haga's time. Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ) came closest, with his time of 22:18 a full 11 seconds off the American. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) put in a strong effort too, taking third, just two seconds behind teammate and friendly rival Campenaerts.

Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick Step) completed a disappointing campaign for him personally, with his time of 22:51 just about in the provisional top ten. Great rides from Italians Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) saw them put in times of 22:27 and 22:16 respectively, placing them comfortably in the top ten.

The big hitters of the top 20 were up next, with the stage win, the fight for minor placings and that last podium spot still to be decided. Riders came and went, but few troubled the top ten. At the checkpoint atop the climb, Roglic had 20 seconds on his podium rival Landa but was nine seconds down on Haga's time.

Shortly afterwards, it became clear that Landa would lose third, as the gap went out on the descent. It was a close-run thing heading into the final kilometre, but Roglic prevailed, taking the final podium spot by just eight seconds.

Further back, Nibali's and Carapaz's places were under no threat, though Nibali still put in a strong effort to take ninth at the finish. He gained 51 seconds on Carapaz, who burst into tears of emotion on the stage shortly after completing his effort.

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