Aussie Gigante climbs the podium at Giro d'Italia
While Italian home favourite Elisa Longo Borghini held on to her overnight lead to take the title for a second straight year, Gigante was thrilled to finish her breakthrough event, in which she won two mountain stages in four days, with a place on the podium.
Better still, she produced the goods on the final hilly stage to take the Queen of the Mountains jersey as top climber, going past the overnight leader, Spain's Usoa Ostolaza.
"I can't believe how well this week went," said Gigante, who is making a remarkable comeback to the sport after surgery last year to fix the debilitating condition, Iliac artery endofibrosis.
"I never expected this. My main concern was just being able to compete again without pain."
The 24-year-old follows her countrywoman Neve Bradbury, who also finished third in the 2024 event, and joins Amanda Spratt (3rd in 2018 and 2019), Kathryn Watt (2nd in 1994 and 3rd in 1990) and Elisabeth Hepple (2nd in the inaugural 1988 event) in the Giro's Australian roll of honour.
After taking the race lead off Marlen Reusser on the penultimate stage, Longo Borghini successfully defended the pink jersey on the final 134km stage eight from Forlì to Imola, finishing fourth behind her Swiss rival on the day.
Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) ended up victorious by 18 seconds ahead of Movistar's Reusser, with Gigante unable to make any inroads into the champion's overnight lead of 71 seconds over the Melbourne rider.
The stage was won by Movistar's Liane Lippert, who beat Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) in a two-up sprint at the famous Imola racetrack, the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, after the pair had escaped from a group of a dozen riders, including Gigante, in the last 3km.
The hilly route provided Gigante's key to the Queen of the Mountains blue jersey prize. She had been lying one point behind Ostolaza overnight, but won the first mountain sprint in Monticino to regain a lead that she wasn't about to relinquish.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) then went on a solo breakaway to win an intermediate sprint and seal her points classification victory.
"It's been an incredible Giro - for me and for the team. The last eight days were full gas: we had a common goal, and we achieved it," Longo Borghini said.
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