British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart says he can ‘taste’ the final stage of the Giro d’Italia in Milan after a sensational performance on stage 18.

With the help of his Team Ineos domestiques - namely Rohan Dennis - the 25-year-old finished second behind Australian Jai Hindley to move within 15 seconds of new leader Wilco Kelderman on a thrilling day in Italy.

And with one more mountain stage on Saturday and an individual time trial on the final day on Sunday, Geoghegan Hart now has a real chance to win his first Grand Tour from seemingly nowhere.

But the Hackney-born racer, who arrived at the Giro with the sole goal of helping Geraint Thomas to victory before the Welshman abandoned through injury, remains humble and grounded heading into the final three stages.

Speaking after the stage, he said: "In hindsight, it was a crazy stage. We set out to take time and we did that. I can only really thank my teammates. I didn't do much in the end. It was 90 per cent their work.

"I think Rohan rode 99 per cent of the race off his wheel. It was super, super impressive. In the finale, it was tricky to know how the situation was behind and how everything would be after such a hard stage.

"It's really unexpected, especially if you look at the first stage of the race, I was pretty far behind after the first few stages. We can almost smell Milan now. We'll stay focused and see what happens."

Team Sunweb’s Kelderman leads the race from teammate Hindley by 12 seconds, with Geoghegan Hart a further three seconds back.

Friday’s Stage 19 looks to be one for the sprinters before the race heads back into the mountains on Saturday.