There was one man who stood above all this weekend as Jai Hindley became the first Australian to win the Giro d’Italia, but it wasn’t just in Italy that Aussies were at the top of the results sheet, but all over the world!
Alex Manly (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) wrapped up a dominant performance at the 2022 LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour on Sunday as she won her fourth stage to confirm herself as the overall winner.
The Australian triumphed in the uphill drag to the finish line in Altenburg after a day of full-on attacks in the peloton to cap a memorable race for the team as they won five of the six stages with Manly's four and an early win for Georgia Baker.
Along with the general classification, Manly also sealed the points classification to leave her fingerprints all over the Pro level race.
Elsewhere, two Aussies took the podium at the finish of the Tour of Norway as Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix) claimed second overall and Lucas Plapp (INEOS Grenadiers) third overall.
The result is another great feather in the cap for both riders, Vine's third Pro podium since winning the Zwift Academy in 2021 and Plapp's best overall result as a Pro so far.
22-year-old Sebastian Berwick (Israel Premier-Tech) finished the Alpes Isere Tour in impressive fashion, going solo from the breakaway for the final 30 kilometres to take final stage honours, the King of the Mountains classification and third place overall.
The former St George Cycling team product continues to build on an impressive season after finishing 7th overall in the best young rider category at the UAE Tour in February.
The Aussie accolades don't stop there as Kaden Groves (Team BikeExchange Jayco) took out the points classification and third overall at the Tour of Estonia over the weekend.
Groves rode strongly throughout the three stages, not finishing outside the top 5 once and showing why he is one of Australia's most highly-touted cycling prospects.
Rounding out the week's high achievers on the road, two Aussies saw great success over in Japan at the Tour of Kumano as Ryan Cavanagh (Victoire Hiroshima) won Stage 3 and Nathan Earle (Team Ukyo) took out the general classification after 3 hard days of racing.
The fun didn't stop there for fans of all disciplines of cycling. Logan Martin was second in the Montpellier Round of the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup with an impressive score of 94.50.
The reigning world and Olympic champion posted a strong score of 94.50, but was beaten out by Japanese star Rim Nakamura. It was also a return to competition for former world champion Brandon Loupos, the Australian making his comeback from a torn ACL with a 16th place finish.
Another rider to complete an ACL injury comeback was Tracey Hannah, the downhill MTB rider winning the the iXS Downhill Cup – Winterberg in Germany.
The downhill star had quit from competing at World Cup events, but she showed that she's lost little of her competitive edge with the win.
Saya Sakakibara and Izaac Kennedy made a strong start to their seasons in BMX racing as the pair both finished on the podium in the opening round of the UCI BMX World Cup in Glasgow.
The reigning national champions of Australia have been a bit starved of international competition, but they showed they were in good form throughout the event to make the finals and then finish third.
