Giro d'Italia: Hindley and Geoghegan Hart level at top after dramatic battle

Tao Geoghegan Hart is on the threshold of Giro d’Italia victory going into Sunday’s time trial stage into Milan. After winning Saturday’s mountain stage at the Sestriere ski resort, the 25-year-old London-born Scot is level on time with the new race leader, Jai Hindley of Australia, an unprecedentedly tight and tense situation after over 85 hours of racing.

No Grand Tour has ever been this close going into the final day, but on paper Geoghegan Hart is a stronger time triallist; a single second’s advantage would suffice meaning that he will be expected to give Great Britain its second Giro d’Italia win in three years after Chris Froome’s last-ditch victory in 2018. For a rider who had expected to support either Richard Carapaz or Geraint Thomas in an attempt for overall victory, it is an astonishing twist of fortune.

After the way that Geoghegan Hart’s Ineos team had split the race to bits on Friday’s massive climb of the Stelvio Pass, it was no surprise to see them attempting something similar at Sestriere, where they had to dislodge the overnight leader Wilco Kelderman of Holland. Even though Geoghegan Hart started only 15sec behind Kelderman, the Dutchman would have the advantage on Sunday, so he had to be removed from the equation.

Related: Meet Tao Geoghegan Hart: the under-the-radar Brit with a shot at Giro glory

After the French authorities had refused to allow the race to use the Col d’Izoard and Colle Agnello – both among the toughest climbs in the Alps – the race organisers had improvised a rather easier route at the last minute, with an initial ascent into Sestriere followed by two loops including another climb into the resort.

These were lower-altitude roads, wider and less steep, and shorter ascents, but Kelderman did not profit from the change. Ineos set up a full-frontal assault, with their former world time trial champion Rohan Dennis putting in a massive injection of pace approaching the penultimate climb. Just as he had done on the Stelvio, he split the main group to pieces, and by the time the field took the bell with one 27km loop remaining, Kelderman was trailing Geoghegan Hart, Dennis and Hindley by 35sec.

Lotto Soudal's Tim Wellens won a three-man sprint against Guillaume Martin (Cofidis Solutions Crédits) and Thyman Arensman (Team Sunweb) to claim the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España from Huesca to Sabiñánigo on Saturday.

The 29-year-old Belgian rider Wellens proved the strongest among the three-man breakaway which formed from a larger earlier escape group and took the third grand tour stage victory of his career, having won stages at the Giro d'Italia in 2016 and 2018.

The Irishman Dan Martin of Israel Start-Up Nation, who is second overall and won stage three on Thursday, was caught up in a crash on the uphill finish but did not appear to be hurt, and avoided losing time as the accident came inside the final three kilometres of the stage.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) remains in the leader's red jersey with Martin five seconds behind and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) in third place, 13 seconds behind Roglic. Sunday's stage six should be a significant test for the GC hopefuls, with three categorised climbs on a 136.6km route between Biescas and Col du Tourmalet.

That left the race perfectly balanced. If Kelderman could hold Hindley, Dennis and Geoghegan Hart to within a minute, he might be able to start Sunday’s time trial with a modicum of hope in his heart. As a teammate of Kelderman’s at the German Sunweb team, Hindley was obliged merely to follow the Ineos pair. Geoghegan Hart had to save his strength for Sunday, so it fell to Dennis to make the pace.

The Australian had been picked up by Team Sky in 2019 after he quit that year’s Tour de France following a bizarre dispute with the Bahrain-Merida squad and went on to win the world time trial title in Harrogate in dominant style. If Geoghegan Hart goes on to win the Giro, Dennis will have played an instrumental role; indeed, there were times on both the key mountain stages when he looked stronger than his leader.

Over the final lap at Sestriere, Kelderman had no team mates at his side, but he found allies of circumstance in the Deceuninck-Quickstep team, working for their Portuguese leader João Almeida. Together with a couple of Vincenzo Nibali’s Trek-Segafredo teammates they attempted to set up the chase, with Kelderman in tow, but with Dennis unleashed up ahead, their numerical advantage counted for little. Kelderman, it seemed, had yet to recover totally from his long solo chase on Friday’s stage behind Dennis and Geoghegan Hart.

With his leader floundering, Hindley needed to finish ahead of Geoghegan Hart, to build an advantage before Sunday’s time trial. So the Australian went on the attack time after time approaching the finish, but each time the Londoner proved equal to the task. At times he sat level with the Australian’s shoulder, as if to underline that he was just as strong, and in the final metres, when Hindley looked in the wrong direction for a split second, the Ineos rider sprang clear to take the stage win by a bike length, snaffling bonus seconds that might prove vital.

That left Ineos with their sixth stage win, and they have another chance on Sunday with Filippo Ganna, who has won both time trials so far in the Giro. None of the top three overall is likely to challenge the Italian, and going on their respective form in the mid-race time trial, Kelderman should be faster than both Hindley and Geogeghan Hart, but he will struggle to close his deficit of 1min 32sec on the pair.

There will be no margin for punctures, mechanicals or missed corners for either of the top two, which explains why Hindley was not going to call the result. “It’s a surreal moment for me, but that’s the beauty of a Grand Tour. This edition has been special. It’s going to come down to the wire and may the best man win.”