In a race covering 76 hours, 41 minutes and 15 seconds, so far only three seconds separate Giro d’Italia leader Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) and second place Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe).
Two riders of different backgrounds, different pedigrees, different styles on the bike and with a different approach to racing are separated by less time than it took to read this sentence.
Just three stages remain to determine the winner of the leader's pink jersey, with two big days in the Alps and the final time trial in Verona to decide the race.
Richard Carapaz has been here before and won, Hindley has been here before and lost.
In 2019, Carapaz surprised his rivals with an attacking performance that saw him leave behind his more fancied adversaries – even higher profile riders on the same Movistar team like now-rival Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) - to win the race convincingly. It remains his lone Grand Tour win, but he’s also finished on the podiums of the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana since, in addition to winning the road race gold medal at the Olympics with a typically bold attack.
Hindley’s moment in the pink limelight came in 2020, an odd Giro d’Italia in many ways that came at the end of a disrupted race season. The West Australian emerged at the top of the standings on the back of a final week of outstanding performances, sweeping his way to the top with fellow unheralded rider Tao Geoghegan Hart, from the same INEOS Grenadiers team as Carapaz. They were locked on time coming into the final stage, with Hindley the leader due to split seconds in the earlier time trial.
It would be the final day’s test against the clock that would decide the race, with Geoghegan Hart taking the win decisively with a 39-second swing in the standings that made the Briton the winner.
"It's pretty hard to take because I was so close," said Hindley in the wake of that result. "But when I look back, I think I'll be super proud of what I've achieved.
"These are massive steps forward in my career. These are three weeks that I'll never forget."
Fast-forward two years for Hindley and three for Carapaz from those career-defining moments and it’s again a Giro showdown. There’s been precious little to separate them on the road thus far, but their origins and entry to the sport are quite different.
Hindley’s first foray into the sport came at seven on the Midland velodrome in the outer suburbs of Perth, his dad Gordon would coach him throughout his junior career as he racked up impressive results enroute to the professional ranks.
Carapaz grew up in El Carmelo, his first bike one picked up from a scrap heap by his dad who was away on work for long portions of Carapaz’s childhood. It had no tyres and still has pride of place on the family property as a memory of where it all started for the now-hero of Ecuador.
He milked the herd of seven cows daily as a youngster on the family's small farm and didn't even realise that it would be possible to be a professional cyclist until he was 16.
The two are also very different on the bike. Carapaz is dramatic, never shy in attacking with a bold move, but also an actor with his facial expressions, often trying to make out like he’s pouring all his energy into each pedal stroke.
"From the expression on his face, Carapaz sometimes looks like he's in difficulty, but in reality, he isn't, and I think he's quite good at playing with that," BORA-hansgrohe sports director Enrico Gasparotto said.
"And Jai does something similar. Or rather the opposite: if Carapaz always makes it seem like he's tired when he's not, then Jai makes it seem like he's not suffering even when he's going really hard. I can see that myself on TV from the team car."
Carapaz has a bit of form when it comes to seeking on-bike Oscar nominations, a Stage 17 Tour de France late attack came off the back of kilometres of looking like he was on the verge of being dropped... if you judged from his facial expressions at least.
The stoic Hindley has also been a bit more conservative than his rival, on Stage 9 where he won, it was the result of grinding climbing and not matching the attacks of the strongest riders that day. On Stage 14, where his BORA-hansgrohe team blew the race apart early and isolated Carapaz, it was the Ecuadorian who attacked first, with the Australian saving himself until the final climb where he was able to catch his rival.
With the hard stages to come, Hindley will be glad for every watt of energy saved so far.
When it comes to character, Hindley and Carapaz both impress. Hindley is Australian, almost stereotypically so at times, his ‘not here to put socks on centipedes’ comment went around the world and his invariable first word in response to a question is ‘yeah…’ as he buys a bit of time to come up with a considered answer to the question.
He’s laidback and unflappable, even when he punctured today towards the end of the stage he dismounted and waited for a new bike calmly, before remounting and finishing the race without a frantic dash and waste of energy.
Carapaz seems equally level-headed off the bike, but there’s a passion that comes out when he’s in a race situation.
“The warrior within me comes out when I’m on my bike,” said Carapaz in an INEOS Grenadiers video, “so from my first cycling competition I became known for that.”
His team talks about being a good leader to ride for, with Australian Richie Porte – who has supported greats like Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins to Grand Tour wins in the past - saying, “I’m enjoying riding for him because he just appreciates it so much.”
“We all believe in Richard, you know he is a great leader so I think that makes it easier to go all in for him. He is super calm, off the bike he is as professional as anybody I have ever seen and he wants this, probably more than anybody else. So, it is great to have him around and morale is good within the team and hopefully the next few days we can finish the job off for him.”
One of the two will end up disappointed, that’s the reality of sport where there’s only one ultimate winner. The epic battle to determine who that will be will be one to savour for those of us watching.
The Giro d’Italia heads back to mountains with a brief visit to Slovenia for a GC battle on Stage 19. Watch the race on SBS On Demand from 8.00pm AEST, with the television coverage of the race starting from 11.00pm AEST on SBS. WA viewers can watch from 9,00pm AWST on SBS VICELAND.
