Australian Jai Hindley has achieved his first podium finish in a major stage race since his triumph in the 2022 Giro d’Italia, coming home third overall in the prestigious Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy.
At the end of a big week on the European roads, there was also success for two other top Aussie riders, with Luke Plapp ending up sixth overall in the iconic Paris-Nice race in France, while Ben O’Connor was fifth in Tirreno-Adriatico.
Hindley was delighted with his week-long performance but had to give best to magnificent overall victor Jonas Vingegaard.
The other big prize on Sunday at Paris-Nice also went to a rider in Vingegaard's all-powerful Team Visma/Lease a Bike outfit as Matteo Jorgenson became the first American victor in the ‘Race to the Sun’ for 18 years since Floyd Landis.
"I'm really happy with the performance from my team (BORA-hansgrohe) and for myself as well," said Hindley, who ended up one minute 52 seconds behind double Tour de France winner Vingegaard and 1:24 adrift of Spain's Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).
"Vingegaard's a pretty well-rounded rider, and one of the best climbers - if not the best climber - in the world.
"Yesterday (in the penultimate mountain stage), we gave it everything to see if we could do something on the final climb to dislodge him but unfortunately we couldn’t ... I can’t be disappointed."
It represented the best performance from 27-year-old Hindley, one of only two Australians along with Cadel Evans ever to win a men's Grand Tour, since his seventh place finish at last year's Tour de France, where the great Dane Vingegaard was just as dominant.
In Sunday's final 154km stage, Italian Jonathan Milan sprinted to his second win of the week on the circuit around San Benedetto del Tronto, as Perth's O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) sealed fifth overall, 2:24 behind Vingegaard.
In Nice, Belgian favourite Remco Evenepoel clinched the final stage, but it wasn't enough for the former world champ to overhaul final-stage runner-up Jorgenson, who secured the biggest victory of his career in his French hometown base.
“To be honest, I never expected to win Paris-Nice. Until this year, I never thought it was possible," Jorgenson said. “I could barely sleep last night. I was so nervous. To ride with such a champion as Remco was a very special moment.”
Evenepoel beat Jorgenson in a sprint to the line after a hilly 109km trek featuring two big climbs starting and finishing in Nice.
The day's big loser was overnight leader Brandon McNulty, who was a distant fifth in the final stage. In the overall standings, Jorgenson was 30 seconds ahead of Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) and 1:47 clear of compatriot and frtiend, McNulty (UAE Team Emirates).
Plapp, a weary 10th on the final stage, could celebrate a breakthrough week in which he wore the leader's iconic yellow jersey for two days.
The three-time national road race champ ended up 3:08 down on Jorgenson, with praise ringing in his ears from record seven-times champion Sean Kelly.
Commentating on Eurosport, Irishman Kelly said of 23-year-old Plapp: "From the time he got into the yellow jersey this week, he’s been very impressive. It’s very much new terrain for him - a complicated race, with difficult weather conditions, tricky roads, he’s done very well.
"It’s good for the future because we’ve got another young guy with huge talent."
