Peter Sagan celebrates career first Maglia Ciclamino 

BORA-hansgrohe reflect on bittersweet Giro d’Italia campaign at the 104th Giro d'Italia

Nothing is ever certain until the last rider crosses the line, and with the final day of the 2021 Giro d’Italia traditionally ending in an individual time trial, there was still the potential for upsets.

Stage 21 took place on the streets of Milan, the 30.3km parcours twisting and turning on city roads, and while the profile was flat, there were enough hazards to catch out the unwary riders and put a cruel end to their race. For BORA-hansgrohe, it was a bittersweet ending to a race that saw Peter Sagan take a sprint victory on stage 10 putting him into the Maglia Ciclimino of points leader, before the team’s GC leader, Emanuel Buchmann, was forced to abandon the race following a crash in the opening kilometres of stage 15 after riding so consistently and making his way to sixth in the overall standings.

The team turned in exceptional performances every day, from Matteo Fabbro, Felix Grossschartner and Giovanni Aleotti getting in the break on multiple stages, to Daniel Oss and Maciej Bodnar controlling the peloton on the sprint stages and protecting Peter Sagan.

Racing until the end, the team gave it their all in Milan, with Maciej Bodnar setting the time to beat early on, the Polish time trial specialist coming home in 34:42 and sitting at the top of the provisional classifications for a time, finally finishing in eleventh, and Felix Grossschartner also setting a fast time, crossing the line in 35:11.

All eyes then turned to Peter Sagan, the Slovak rider only having to finish the stage to confirm the first ciclamino jersey of his career and, after setting a time of 36:47, it was finally time to celebrate an excellent performance from both Peter and his BORA-hansgrohe teammates.

Peter Sagan climbed the podium in Milan to receive the cyclamen points jersey with his young son Marlon. Sagan has now won seven green jerseys at the Tour and one at the Giro.

Sagan beat Davide Cimolai and Fernando Gaviria in the final points classification.

Peter Sagan said, "I'm very happy and proud to step on the final podium in Milan, wearing the ciclamino jersey of the Giro d'Italia. It has been a dream of mine for many years and I am delighted to see it come true today. I'd like to thank the race organisers, the incredible Italian public that was back on the roads cheering for us and all my teammates for their work in these three tough weeks of racing."