After three hard weeks of racing, the 98th Giro d’Italia came to an end on Sunday with Team Katusha’s Iurii Trofimov able to retain his tenth place in the general classification and meet his pre-race goals for the Italian tour.

"It was another hard day for me because I’ve been suffering from an illness and all I wanted to do was just finish the race. Finally, I am happy with my performance and the place in the Top-10 of GC. It was another good experience for me and I am happy I was here in the Giro. I want to thank my team for all support and help it provided to me. We had a great team spirit here," said best-placed team rider Iurii Trofimov.

Stage 21 produced an exciting sprint battle as the main field tried to catch a pair of riders before the finish line. Team Katusha’s Aleksandr Porsev was in the heart of the action, working his way to the front and taking fourth place behind breakaway winner Iljo Keisse. Second place on the stage went to Keisse’s breakaway companion Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) with Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) in third.

"Today Porsev was close to a really nice result. He finished second from his group but it was only 4th place on the stage. This was a good Giro for us. We won a stage with Ilnur [Zakarin], who did an impressive race, and we were very close to a second win with Iurii Trofimov on Madonna di Campiglio and finally we took 10th place in the general classification with Trofimov. It was our aim and we achieved this purpose. Without his illness in the final week, I am sure Iurii would have done better, but this is a very respectable result for him personally and for the team. Our team looked really strong this spring. Tomorrow summer is coming and I am sure more nice results will follow," said team director Dmitry Konyshev.

After leading the race since the fifth stage with the exception of one day, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the 2015 Giro d’Italia with a total time of 88:22.25. Joining him on the final podium were Astana teammates Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa at 1.53 and 3.05 respectively

The 185 km stage began in Torino and rolled calmly to Milano with riders enjoying the casual pace to celebrate the end of a great month of racing. Once they hit the circuit in the city center, however, Keisse (Etixx – Quick Step) and Durbridge went up the road and built up a gap. In the seven circuits it was difficult to mount an organized chase, although Team Katusha and others tried, with the two riders staying away for the first two positions as the main field sprinted in just behind them.