Hesjedal wins the Giro d'Italia

Garmin-Barracuda's Hesjedal overturned a 31-second deficit in the deciding 28km individual time trial to dethrone Katusha's Rodriguez at the top of the standings in what proved to be a nail-biting finale to the three-week stage race.

“It has been an unreal experience from day one – just unbelievable,” said 31-year-old Hesjedal before mounting the podium to receive the race winner’s famous maglia rosa.

“I couldn’t have done it without the team. I knew I was good when I came into the race. I stayed fresh and took every opportunity.The support, the fans at home, it’s all unreal. I’d like to thank everyone,” he added.

Hesjedal set the sixth-best time in the final time trial, which was won by Italy's Marco Pinotti (BMC) in a time of 33 minutes and six seconds.

Pinotti bettered Britain's Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) by 39 seconds over a flat and technical course, with New Zealand’s Jesse Sergent (RadioShack Nissan) taking third place, 53 seconds in arrears.

Rodriguez finished the stage 47 seconds slower than his rival Hesjedal and outside the top 20 to lose the pink jersey that he had worn since stage 15.