Top favoute delivers: Lorenzo Finn secures overall victory at Giro Next Gen with time trial win

The eighth and final stage of the Giro Next Gen was won by Lorenzo Finn. The Italian rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was the fastest in the closing time trial, securing not only his second stage win of the Giro but also the overall victory: Matéo Ramirez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished second in the general classification, ahead of Henrique Bravo (Soudal Quick-Step).

After seven stages, the Giro Next Gen general classification already seemed to be pretty much decided. Lorenzo Finn had made his mark on the race in stage six and extended his lead in the penultimate stage. There was still one challenge left: a 22-kilometer time trial—and not just any time trial. The course around L'Aquila was quite hilly.

Early in the day, we saw riders like Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco, Bradley Wiggins’ son) and a strong Jasper Schoofs (Soudal Quick-Step). However, the former pink jersey wearer was beaten by another former pink jersey wearer: Kasper Haugland (Decathlon CMA CGM) posted the fastest time and was five seconds faster than Schoofs, finishing in exactly 30 minutes.

The Norwegian had paced his time trial well: Nicolas Milesi (Netcompany INEOS) was a full 36 seconds faster at the halfway point, but still lost a second at the finish. However, everyone was waiting for the big names, among whom were plenty of excellent time trialists. This meant that Haugland ultimately had to make way for a stunning Matisse Van Kerckhove.

The Belgian, who had already won a stage and worn the pink jersey, had paced his time trial well, finishing a full 25 seconds faster than Haugland. But he wasn’t able to enjoy that position for very long, as Adam Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco) beat it by sixteen seconds. The Irishman also made significant gains in the general classification: he moved up from tenth to seventh place.

Riders like Aubin Sparfel (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Henrique Bravo (Soudal Quick-Step) also failed to match his time, but they did manage to hold onto their positions. Mato Ramírez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was riding fast, but the only rider faster than Rafferty at the halfway point was the pink jersey wearer: Finn gained two seconds on the Irishman there. It wasn’t very aerodynamic, but it was certainly fast.

The main question was whether he would be faster than Rafferty at the finish line: what was certain was that the Italian secured his overall victory with panache. Ramírez had an excellent race and finished second in the overall standings, but the stage win went to Finn, who had extended his lead. Two stage wins and the overall victory for the Italian!