Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar clinched the Giro d'Italia on his debut when he retained his unassailable overall lead after the final stage in Rome, winning by the biggest overall margin since 1965.
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The UAE Team Emirates rider had been in the leader's pink jersey since winning stage two, the first of his six stage successes, and finished the ceremonial 125-km flat run safely in the bunch as Tim Merlier won the stage.
Merlier (Soudal-Quick-Step) outsprinted Italy's Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) as the Belgian won his third stage. Milan had made his way back to the front for the bunch sprint after crashing on the last lap around the Eternal City.
Milan, winner of three stages, won the points classification, ahead of Australia's Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who finished third in the final stage.
Two other Australians finished in the general classification's top 10. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) was fourth while Michael Storer (Tudor) came 10th. Caleb Ewan finished down the order.
Pogacar, 25, finished nine minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Colombia's Daniel Martinez (BORA-Hansgrohe), with last year's runner-up Geraint Thomas of Wales (Ineos Grenadiers) a further 28 seconds behind in third in the overall standings.
He adds the Giro title to his two Tour de France triumphs in 2020 and 2021, doing it in style to prove exactly why he had been the pre-race favourite as nobody came even close to challenging once Pogacar laid down an early marker on day two.
Last year's winner and fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic was absent from the race along with Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, but nothing can take away from Pogacar's domination in Italy, and he will now aim for the Tour de France.
Pogacar really took control on stage seven by winning the individual time trial ahead of Filippo Ganna, stretching his lead to over two-and-a-half minutes, and followed that by winning the next stage.
Ganna gained revenge in the next time trial but Pogacar still extended the gap to his rivals when finishing second, and by stage 15 it was all but over when the Slovenian won his fourth stage and put an extra three minutes between himself and Thomas.
Pogacar won the weather-hit next stage and showed no mercy on the penultimate day when going solo to take his sixth stage to cement his grip on the maglia rosa, with an overall lead not seen in almost 60 years at the Giro.
The Slovenian also won the mountains classification and Pogacar could relax on the final day and enjoy his first ride around the streets of the Italian capital safe in the knowledge he was the Giro winner without a shadow of a doubt.
Australian Associated Press
