Richard Carapaz sealed a historic victory at the Giro d’Italia, becoming Ecuador’s first ever grand tour winner.

The 26-year-old Movistar rider, a reported target for Team Ineos, was an outside bet at the start of the race in Bologna three weeks ago. But he began Sunday’s final day time trial in Verona in a commanding position, with a near two-minute advantage over home favourite and multiple grand tour winner Vincenzo Nibali [Bahrain-Merida].

Despite losing 51 seconds to the Italian over the 17km course, Carapaz won the maglia rosa by 1min5sec.

"This is the biggest moment of my sporting life, and it's hard to explain,” Carapaz said at the finish line. “I just suffered from start to finish until I reached the arena here in Verona."

Nibal beat Primoz Roglic [Jumbo-Visma] to second place, the latter bumping Mikel Landa [Movistar] off the podium by eight seconds thanks to his superior time trialling skills.