Cesare Benedetti of the BORA-hansgrohe team excels on the first alpine stage of the 2019 Giro d’Italia, surging out of a large breakaway group that formed almost immediately at the start of the stage. Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) finished with the break to take the maglia rosa away from Valerio Conti.
160 riders rolled out of Cuneo for a 158km intermediate alpine stage to Pinerolo under sunny skies. The stage was dedicated to the memory of Fausto Coppi.
As expected, Elia Viviani (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) did not start this morning, as they were heading home for a brief recovery period before starting preparations for the Tour de France.
There was just one categorized climb on the docket today at Montoso. It’s 8.8km in length and has an average gradient of 9.5 per cent. After the summit, there’s a long downhill run of 30km towards the finish, so someone who makes their move on the climb could possibly stay away.
De Gendt and Dunbar made an early escape before being joined by 20 other riders. Jan Polanc, just 5:23 behind race leader Valerio Conti becomes the leader on the road as the gap stretched out to over 7 minutes. Polanc’s UAE teammates were sitting at the front of the peloton, but the gap continued to grow.
The complete list of riders in the break was: Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data) Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep) Francesco Gavazzi (Androni-Giocattoli), Jan Bakelants (Sunweb) Matteo Montaguti (Androni-Giocattoli), Eddie Dunbar (Ineos), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida), Manuel Senni (Bardiani-CSF), Manuele Boaro (Astana), Danilo Wyss (Dimension Data), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF), Christian Knees (Ineos), Jenthe Biermans (Katusha-Alpecin), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe), Sean Bennett (EF Education First) Josef Cerny (CCC Team), Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar), Roger Kluge (Lotto Soudal), Conor Dunne (Isreal Cycling Academy).
With 68km remaining, the break had nearly 15’30” on the peloton. Bahrain Merida put a couple of riders at the front of the peloton to bump the pace up a little bit.
With 59km remaining, Sam Bennett attacks the break and is soon joined by Marco Haller. They open a small gap of about 30 second on their former break-mates.
Mitchelton moved up to the front of the peloton with Yates but they’re not obliged to work so it was still Visma and Bahrain doing the chasing.
With 39km remaining, the break hit the climb of the Montoso with a 12’24” gap over the peloton. De Gendt was looking strong while the rest of the break looked to be at their limit. Caruso responded, prompting De Gendt to ease up. Polanc jumped onto Caruso’s wheel.
Just like that, the break was down to six riders: Capecchi, Dunbar, Brambilla, Polanc, Cataldo, and Caruso with 35km to go.
Back in the peloton, Lopez attacked. He was at the back but decided to go after his teammate Hirt. He makes contact, while Carapaz bridges with Majka and Nibali. Visma responded with Roglic doing most of the work. Mitchelton made it over as well. Roglic was out there on his own and Conti got dropped.
Mikel Landa made a big attack as well and for the time being, Roglic let it go.
Dunbar, Cappechi, Brambilla and Caruso were still off the front.
Back in the peloton, the Roglic group was down to about 20 riders. Yates had a couple of teammates with him and Nibali had one, but Roglic was on his own.
Mikel Landa and Lopez were still clear, but there was no significant gap between them and the Roglic group.
Benedetti moved up to join the leaders, and Polanc reconnected as well with 21km to go.
Landa and Lopez were still together, but still no gap between them and the Roglic group, which was lead by Trek. Conti and Jungels are a minute down.
Montaguti and Cataldo bridged up to the leaders as well, making it seven at the front.
Roglic briefly drifted back to the team car before coming back strong Mollema and a batch of other riders who were dropped on the descent.
Back at the front, it was just 2km to go and Benedetti was leading but Brambilla responded. Cappechi followed as well. Dunbar was slowly coming back into contention as well.
In the final kilometer, Cappechi lead out the final sprint with Caruso, Benedetti, Brambilla and Dunbar close behind.
Brambilla attacked but he didn’t have the legs. Benedetti powers past with Dunbar in second and Caruso in third. Polanc came across soon after to take over the maglia rosa.
Landa and Lopezed approach the finish together 7’34 down on the winners, taking around 30 seconds off the Roglic group. Zakarin was dropped in the closing stages.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Cesare Benedetti said: “I’ve worked a lot for the others in the past but today I got my opportunity. I’m not a talent, I’m not [usually] a winner. I lost contact in the final climb but I knew the three guys at the front would look at each other. The way I finished it off is exactly what I wanted to do.”
The race leader Jan Polanc said: “It was a team tactic that I’d go in the breakaway so we could have a better control over the race. It was also a way to keep the Maglia Rosa in the team. We were lucky to be able to play these cards and I’m very happy to have the jersey. I was thinking about the stage win as well but being the virtual leader I had to pull a lot more than others.”
Stage 12 Brief Results:
- Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe) in 3h41’49”
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) s.t.
- Edward Dunbar (Team Ineos) s.t.
- Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) at 2″
- ros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 6″
- Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) at 25″
- Matteo Montaguti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) at 34″
- Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) at 2’36”
- Francesco Gavazzi (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) at 2’36”
- Manuel Senni (Bardiani CSF) at 2’38”
General Classification After Stage 12:
- Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) at 48h49’40”
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 4’07”
- Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) at 4’51”
- Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 5’02”
- Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 5’51”
- Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) at 6’02”
- Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 7’00”
- Richard Carapaz (Movistar Team) at 7’23”
- Andrey Amador (Movistar Team) at 7’30”
- Hugh John Carthy (EF Education First) at 7’33”
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