Giro d'Italia: Greipel wins stage 12 in Bibione

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André Greipel sprinted to his third victory of this Giro d’Italia on the pan-flat stage 12, benefitting from the work of his Lotto Soudal teammates before getting the better of closest challenger Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge).

Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) was a distant third as Greipel struck up the 20th Grand Tour stage win of his career, bringing him level in the German record books with Erik Zabel. Rumoured to pull out of the race ahead of the high mountains – as he did last year – the German, wearing the maglia rossa, may have delivered a roaring goodbye to this Giro.

It was as much a tale of teamwork as it was individual strength. Once the breakaway duo of Daniel Oss (BMC) and Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) had been caught with 22km remaining, Greipel’s Lotto Soudal team set up shop on the front of the bunch and stayed their until Greipel had been delivered to the final 200 metres.

The 8km finishing circuit in Bibione, covered twice, was highly technical but Lotto Soudal held their own and last man Jurgen Roelandts led round the final 90-degree bend with 300 metres to go. From there Greipel made no mistake, with Ewan the only rider capable of staying anywhere near on terms. The young Australian came up on the right and appeared slightly boxed in as Greipel moved across, but the more experienced rider seemed to posseess the greater power.

“It was already quite strong of the team to keep me there at the front and still be there for the lead out," Greipel said. "It was amazing to follow the wheels of my teammates today. The plan was Jurgen Roelandts would hit the last corner first, and leave a little bit of a gap and then I could accelerate in his slipstream. It worked out really good. I wanted to do the sprint from the corner and I’m happy that it worked out like that."

With heavy rain for much of the day in northern Italy, the race jury decided to neutralize the tight, twisty finishing circuit, taking times after the first of the two laps so that the GC riders could move aside and let the sprinters get on with it on the final lap.

There were no changes whatsoever, then, to the overall standings, and Bob Jungels will take the pink jersey into the high mountains, starting with Friday’s stage to Cividale del Friuli.

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How it happened

With barely a metre of incline on the 182km route from Noale to the coastal town of Bibione, the weather Gods took matters into their own hands in providing the riders with a challenge. There was pouring rain at the start and every rider was decked out in full wet weather gear.

After a few moves off the front, policed by Lotto Soudal, BMC’s Daniel Oss punched his way clear. A few riders tried to jump across, but only Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) was able to manage it and a breakaway duo was formed.

Oss took maximum points over the two intermediate sprints but they weren’t really contested. There wasn’t a huge amount of interest from the sprinters in the peloton either, and Nizzolo was best of the rest in relaxed fashion on both occasions, with Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ) also showing an interest.

The rain capes and leg warmers began to be shed as the conditions dried up in the final quarter of the race. The gap between the break and the bunch fluctuated as the sprinters’ teams closed in before remembering they’d rather not make the catch too soon.

As it was, it was all back together with 22km, shortly ahead of the finishing circuit – Lotto’s cue to exert complete domination.

The GC men were able to peel off with 8km remaining but Lotto forged on, with Adam Hansen doing a monster turn on the front. IAM Cycling and Lampre-Merida tried to muscle in but Sean de Bie restored order and Greipel made sure he didn’t leave the wheel of Roelandts.

Positioning was all-important going into the right-hand bend with around 300 metres to go and Greipel was set up perfectly – Ewan the only other rider to come through it with any chance of victory. Greipel provided another demonstration of his strength to surpass compatriot Marcel Kittel’s tally of two wins in this Giro. 

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