The weather and terrain during the Giro d'Italia's 12th stage on Thursday certainly favoured the classics men, and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) took advantage to score his first win of the 2015 season over the final uphill sprint in Vicenza. In a tough final kilometre that ramped up steeply on Monte Berico, the former world champion caught Tanel Kangert 200 metres from the line and powered past the Astana rider to finish three seconds ahead of a much-reduced peloton.
The 190-kilometre route from Imola to Vicenza was an almost entirely flat affair until the road pitched up on the Castelnuovo about 136k into the day. From there the route undulated over the Crosara and several other short, steep pitches before the final climb at the finish. The day started out dry and clear but weather quickly moved in to set up the wet finale. Crashes were frequent on the slick surface, but Gilbert survived the carnage and multiple solo flyers in the closing kilometres to take the win.
The general classification also saw some action, as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked on the final climb to finish second, boosting his lead over Astana's Fabio Aru to 17 seconds.
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