Niko Denz of the BORA-hansgrohe team won a 3-up sprint of a breakaway group to win Stage 12 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia. No change in the General Classification as all of the main maglia rosa contenders finished safely.
This 185km stage from Bra to Rivoli ran entirely on Piedmontese soil. It was a bit of a ‘shrug’ with a climb the summit of Pedaggera at 36km and the Colle Braida summit just 30km from the finish. It’s not really one for the sprinters or the GC contenders, so it favors the breakaway riders.
The peloton, now at 139 riders strong, started their race day at 12:47 p.m. Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) was the latest rider to abandon the race.
Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) and Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) made the early move off the start line, but the breakaway soon swelled to a group of 30: Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), Alex Baudin, Valentin Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën), Samuele Battistella, Vadim Pronskiy, Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Jasha Sütterlin (Bahrain Victorious), Nico Denz, Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe), Jonathan Lastra (Cofidis), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Alessandro Tonelli, Luca Covili, Davide Gabburo (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Laurens Huys (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Sebastian Berwick, Marco Frigo, Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), Michel Hessmann, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Veljko Stojnić (Team Corratec-Selle Italia), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Mads Pedersen, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Bauke Mollema, Toms Skujiņš (Trek-Segafredo), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa), Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Their gap on the peloton waas 2.50” as the descended into Alba.
The next 75km of the stage was largely flat. The maglia rosa group did not seem to be overly concerned with the stage leaders.
78km remaining and the lead group was down to Nico Denz, Alessandro Tonelli, Sebastian Berwick, and Toms Skujins with a gap of 4’50 over the peloton. A group of 25 or 26 chasers sat a little over 2 minutes back from the break.
62km to go and the group of four had an advantage of nearly 8 minutes.
54km to go and the leaders pass the finish line for the first time. They’ll head to the Colle Braida climb from here before descending back to Rivoli for the real finish.
35km to go and the four leaders still sat more than 8 minutes over the maglia rosa group. But there were chasing groups getting closer. a trio of Alex Baudin (ACT), Christian Scaroni (AST), and Alberto Bettiol (EFE) sat just 3 minutes back with another group trailing by 2’20”.
Marco Frigo has attacked one of the chase groups in an attempt to bridge to the leaders, but 3 minutes was a long gap to make up on a climb. 25km to go and the lead trio still enjoyed an 8 minute lead. The descent from Colle Braida back into Rivoli took in a mix of old and new pavement and could slow up the peloton even more. Tonelli had lost touch with the break after an earlier acceleration by Skujins.
12km to go and Denz went on the attack. Skujins was able to reconnect. Berwick looked to be dropped, but he put in a massive effort to get back on as well.
2km to go and the trio was still feeling each other out for a sprint. All went for it but it was Denz and Skujins that had the legs to contest it. Denz came out on top.
Speaking seconds after the finish, the stage winner Nico Denz said: “This is a very big win for me, and I’m super proud to have taken a stage in the Giro d’Italia, it’s unbelievable. When I made it into the break, there were such big names in the group, and I thought initially that it wouldn’t be easy for me to make a move. But despite that, I knew that I had to do something. Eventually, the collaboration deteriorated in the group and a split appeared, and at that time, I was at the front. So we pushed and I then we managed to get a gap. On the last climb, I was really on my limit, and I barely made it over the top. But once I got through it, I knew that there was a little kicker coming up, and that I had to attack there. I tried that, but our group came back together again. But I still knew that I have quite a fast finish, and in the end, that’s what got me the win. I’m absolutely over the moon right now, it’s amazing.”
The Maglia Rosa Geraint Thomas said: “Obviously Pavel Sivakov rode very well today despite his crash yesterday. He’s definitely in a good shape. Hopefully it’s all good tomorrow in Switzerland and I can defend the Maglia Rosa the same way I won the Tour de Suisse before.”
Stage 12 Brief Results:
- Nico Denz (Bora-hansgrohe) in 4h18’11”
- Toms Skujiņš (Trek-Segafredo) s.t.
- Sebastian Berwick (Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
- Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) +58″
- Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) +2’07”
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep) +2’20”
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t.
- Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan) s.t.
- Michel Hessmann (Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
- Alex Baudin (AG2R Citroën) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 12:
- Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) at 49h02’05”
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) at 2″
- Joao Pedro Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) at 22″
- Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) at 35″
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 1’28”
Jerseys:
- Maglia Rosa, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by Enel – Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Maglia Ciclamino, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Agenzia ICE with the brand Madeinitaly.gov.it – Jonathan Milan (Bahrain – Victorious)
- Maglia Azzurra, leader of the Gran Premio della Montagna, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team)
- Maglia Bianca, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Intimissimi Uomo – João Pedro Gonçalves Almeida (UAE Team Emirates)
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