Riding his TCR Advanced SL and wearing a Giant Rev Pro helmet, Harper attacked his breakaway companions early on the paved section of Stage 20's Colle delle Finestre, extended his lead on the gravel section closer to the summit, and stayed clear to take the win at the Sestrière ski resort. It was a second stage win for Team Jayco AlUla at this Giro d’Italia, following Luke Plapp’s solo victory on Stage 8 two weeks earlier aboard a Propel Advanced SL.

Both Harper and Plapp earned their wins riding with a CADEX 50 Ultra WheelSystem and the new CADEX Aero Cotton tires, along with the CADEX Amp saddle. Harper also rode with a CADEX Race Integrated handlebar.

Harper's win was yet another strong team performance across three weeks of racing in Italy, which saw five of the team's eight riders register top-10 stage finishes. Grand Tour debutants Paul Double and Davide De Pretto were both active in early stages as they infiltrated breakaways, with De Pretto sprinting to a top-10 finish on Stage 3. An aggressive Filippo Zana fought to sixth place on a brutal Stage 15 into Asiago, while De Pretto rode to eighth from the breakaway on Stage 18.

“This Giro has been a fantastic one for the whole team with two stage wins," said the team's sports director David McPartland. "We come into any Grand Tour with a goal to win a stage, so to be going home with two stage wins here, it sums up our successful three-week journey at the Giro. Also, we've had seven top 10s from different riders, which shows the depth of the whole team in this Giro d'Italia. It's been a really well-rounded team."

Harper Solos to Career Best Win

The smile on Harper’s face as he crossed the finish line said it all. The biggest victory of his six-year professional career was a long time coming. After battling through injuries and illnesses the past few years, he scored his first WorldTour win with a 32km solo attack on Stage 20 while the fight for the general classification unfolded behind him. He won by attacking on the infamous Finestre climb, an 18.5km grind with an average gradient of 9.2% and a gravel surface on the top half.

Harper made it into the day’s breakaway, which went clear in the opening kilometers with 31 riders gaining a maximum advantage of almost nine minutes. Once onto the lower slopes of the Finestre, Harper followed accelerations and waited for the right moment to attack. He jumped away with 15km of the climb remaining.

"I preferred to climb at my own pace," Harper said. "I kept my effort under control in order to not explode, so I would have enough left to go to the finish."

Behind Harper, Simon Yates had made his move to seize the GC. “My sport directors kept me updated so I knew Simon Yates had a decent gap,” Harper said. “I also knew when he had Wout van Aert with him, and I got a bit nervous knowing Van Aert was chasing me down on the valley.”

But no one would catch Harper. As he crossed the line in the misty fog at Sestrière, he put his hands in the air and smiled, his face showing a mix of joy and relief. He’d pulled off the biggest win of his career, a 32km solo raid that began on one of the most fearsome climbs in the sport of cycling.

“I felt quite good at the start [of the Giro d’Italia], but unfortunately on that second rest day I started to feel pretty bad and ended up on antibiotics,” Harper said. “Then the focus was these last mountain stages to try and get into a break and see if I could get a result. It means a lot [to win on the Finestre stage]. It’s such a famous climb and I’m proud to win the stage here. It’s a super challenging stage and I’m really happy I could pull it off.”