As it happened: Late solo attacker steals victory from the sprinters on stage 12 of the Giro d'Itallia
A chance for a breakaway over 177km in Liguria
Hello and welcome to stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia!
Like many stages of this Giro d’Italia, today’s parcours is intriguingly balanced. There’s enough climbing to give attackers hope of surviving, but not enough to rule out a bunch sprint either.
Sadly, one rider hasn’t made it to the start today - Lennert Van Eetvelt. The young Belgian had looked in promising form, but crashed yesterday and has been deemed unfit to continue the race.
A reminder of what happened yesterday. It’s not implausible that Jhonatan Narváez might get into the break today to chase what would be a fourth stage win. He’s on a stunning hot streak at this Grand Tour, the kind that’s very rare for riders who are neither sprinters nor GC men.
Giro d'Italia: Jhonatan Narváez outduels Enric Mas for victory on stage 11 as breakaway prevails
The riders have just been cheered off by the crowd assembled at Imperia for the unofficial start.
While this is far from being as nailed-on a day for the breakaway as yesterday, there’s still likely to be multiple riders eager to get up the road from the start. They will, however, come up against sprinters’ team who will want a group of a manageable size, and one they believe they can bring back.
So brace yourself for another intense stage beginning once the flag drops!
A second rider has also abandoned - Sjoerd Bax, who was so good in the time trial a couple of days ago when he finished fourth.
Here's more on Van Eetvelt's abandon, that has left the struggling Lotto with just four riders left in the race.
'A major setback' - Lotto-Intermarché down to four riders at the Giro d'Italia as leader crashes out
As was the case yesterday, Groupama begin the attacks with a move from Jacobs.
He's joined by Garcia Cortina, Maestri, and a Bardiani rider.
The others have been caught, but Jacobs remains out front.
UAE are in the mood again - Bjerg attacks out of the peloton.
He's marked though, and instead Maestri counter attacks.
There was an attempt to block the road at the front of the peloton by teams not wanting anyone other than these two riders in the break, but that's very unlikely to happen on a route like today's.
Already lots of other attacks have defied that attempted block and made new moves.
Fredrik Dversnes Lavik is one of those riders, and he's bridged up to Maestri.
We're entering good territory to form a break now, as the road is going a little uphill.
Jacobs is sill leading the race by himself, with Maestri and Dversnes Lavik chasing behind.
The two chasers have caught Jacobs, along with 3 more riders
Those other three riders are Cavagna, Mifsud and Tarozzi.
You might have thought the sprinters' teams would be happy with such a small group, but they're being chased down.
And now those 6 have been caught.
A new group of four has gone up the road.
It's all bunched up at the front of the peloton again, but a Bardiani rider has managed to escape through the block.
It's not over yet though - several more are trying attacks.
Tarozzi was the Bardiani rider, and he' joined the four leaders - Bais, Van der Lee, Geens and Juan Pedro López.
160KM TO GO
Those five have 45 seconds on the peloton, while the counters behind have all been neutralised.
The pace is off in the peloton and no more attacks are forthcoming. It looks like we might have our break of the day.
The gap's growing still, now up to 1:30. That's likely to be too big for anybody who has missed this break to bridge up to it now.
The scene at the start earlier.
150KM TO GO
The break's been allowed 1:55, but already some sprinter teams have started riding tempo in the peloton to control them.
What’s interesting is which teams are doing the pace-setting. As expected, Sodal QuickStep are doing some of the work, for their two-stage winner Paul Magnier. But they’re also being aided by Unibet Rose Rockets, whose sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is one of the names you'd expect to struggle to stay in contention on the climbs.
Those climbs aren’t for a while yet. Before then the riders get to enjoy another 60km of flat roads.
The riders are hardly taking it easy though, despite these pleasant roads. The peloton are keeping the break at a stingy margin of just a minute and a half.
Despite having parcours seeming so finely poised between the break and the sprinter, this stage is looking firmly in the advantage of the latter.
140KM TO GO
The peloton are bringing the brea back already, which is now just 1:07 ahead. Surely they won't want to make the catch early?
It’s curious to see the peloton chasing so hard, as on paper this break doesn't look especially threatening, especially compared with those from previous stages.
Arguably the biggest name here is former Maglia Rosa wearer Juan Pedro López, although he would have preferred hillier terrain than this. Even his Movistar team didn’t seem convinced by his presence in the break, as they tried to get their other rider Milesi in it too.
The five riders in the day's break.
There’s no surprise to see an Alpecin rider in the break. They’ve desperately needed to rethink their approach at this Giro since the abandonment of leader and sprinter Kaden Groves. Today, it’s up to Jonas Geens to do the unlikely and help this break succeed.
Mattia Bais is the day's Team Polti representative in the break, as he has been in almost every stage since the race reached Italy. At this rate, he'll surely be in the running for the super-combativity award.
Bais' breakaway companion, Manuele Tarozzi, is likely to be a rival in that super-combativity award, having been in almost as many breakaways, including even the Bulgaria stages where nobody wanted to be up the road.
Last but not least, Jardi Christiaan van der Lee is the fifth and final member of the break. He’s another rider who loves to get up the road, having featured in several World Tour breakaways earlier this season, and is doing the work for EF as they continue to chase an elusive stage win at this race.
A development in the peloton - they've stopped chasing. The gap had come back to within a minute, and they seem to fear making the catch too early.
110KM TO GO
The relaxation in pace is yet to show in the time gap, which remains at one minute. The breakaway riders themselves are taking it easy, perhaps as a means to threaten the peloton with sitting up going back into the peloton, unless they’re given a bigger advantage. It’s an interesting game of brinkmanship.
The peloton won’t want to catch them so early, as that would open things up for another round of attacks to form a new - and potentially more dangerous - breakaway.
The gap's actually coming down again, to just 45 seconds.
It's kicking off again in the peloton, with new attacks being made!
8 riders have gone clear, and more are following.
There's some big names here too, including Ganna and Stuyven.
They've got a big gap too.
Those riders have caught the five leaders, and are now 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.
This is some turn up for the books!
100KM TO GO
35 seconds for the lead group, made up of the five original escapees plus about five others. There are several more riders in between trying to join them, too.
6 more riders join the leaders - Rutsch, De Vries, Sobrero, Naesen and Bayer and another.
The other riders who had already made it into the group earlier: Stuyven, Kubis, Van den Bossche, Pedersen, Teutenberg, Svestad-Bårdseng
A lot of these riders are teammates of sprinters, and therefore not doing any work. Will this new break be cohesive enough to stay clear?
This is developing into an increasingly unusual stage.
40 seconds is their lead.
The break aren't working together, and they've now started attacking each other. The first to do so is Jacobs, just as he did at the very start of the day.
Geens and Van der Lee are chasing Jacobs, and behind them are Tarozzi, Rutsch and Dversnes.
Those 6 riders have all come together, and everyone else appears to have been caught by the peloton again.
So we almost have the same personnel as the original break, only with Johan Jacobs, Fredrik Dversnes Lavik and Jonas Rutsch in place of López and Bais.
90KM TO GO
It seems things are calming down again. The (new) break has about 40 seconds over the peloton, who seem to be happy with it.
The peloton has indeed sat up. This new break is 1:30 up the road.
Once again, it's Soudal and the Rose Rockets leading the peloton.
Lotto, Unibet and Groupama are the new teams represented in the break, all teams that have struggled at this Giro so far and remain winless.
Afonso Eulálio, enjoying yet another day in pink.
80KM TO GO
The break now has a lead of just over two minutes, as they just start the first of the day's two climbs.
This is where this stage gets interesting again. These climbs present an opportunity for the sprinters who are better at climbing to use their teams to try and drop the purer spriters.
This climb is a long one at 11.4km, averaging 4.2% with some steeper fluctuations.
Here we go, Movistar have massed at the front with four riders at the front! Who can they get rid of?
This is reminiscent of stage four, when Movistar's work dropped loads of their rivals to help set their sprinter Aular up for a second-place finish.
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Tarozzi has just taken the points at the intermediate sprint. There will be no sprint among the Maglia Ciclamino contenders in the peloton, with the break taking them all.
No sprinters have been dropped by Movistar's pace yet, but the break's lead has been slashed to under a minute already.
Now the damage is being done - Andresen is dropped!
Ganna has been dropped.
Groenewegen is dropped! He's surrounded by four teammates, but faces a big task to get back on now.
That's grim news for the Rose Rockets, considering how much work they did earlier in the stage.
Magnier and Milan are still safely in the peloton, for now.
There's only 2.5km 'till they get to the summit, but there's another climb coming shortly afterwards.
All the work is being done by Movistar, who have no less than Enric Mas setting the pace, with three more teammates waiting behind him.
Van der Lee has attacked out of the breakaway.
Milesi and Rubio are the two Movistar riders working with Mas for Aular.
Ackermann is the latest sprinter to be dropped.
The break's been caught, just as they near the summit.
Van der Lee still remains out in front though, with a lead of 5 seconds.
Magnier and Milan have both been dropped!
They're near the summit, can they get back on?
Van Uden and Vernon are also in this group with Milan and Magnier that have been dropped.
Mihkels is also in this dropped group.
Some of the riders from the dropped group have made it back into the peloton, including Milan.
Not Magnier though, who is still chasing.
More riders return to the peloton, including, it seems, Magnier.
Milan and Magnier might be back for now, but they have another climb coming up very soon to survive. It's a hard one, too, averaging 5.9% for 5.5km.
Movistar piling on the pressure on the previous climb. Mas, Rubio and Milessi are still there to do the same on the next climb.
One rider Movistar don’t have to help is Javier Romo. It’s just been announced that he has abandoned.
They're on the climb now, Movitar still setting the pace.
Movitar have allies in NSN, who have joined them at the front. Their sprinter Strong is still there.
Milan is labouring and drifting towards the back of the peloton.
Magnier is also drifting back now.
Magnier is dropped again, 2.7km from the top!
This could be an oppertunity for Milan to make gains in the points classification as well as go for the stage, but he too looks close to the brink.
Van Uden is dropped.
Magnier isn't giving up, and has a teammate to help him, but is up against it if he's to make it back even with a lot of road between the summit and the finish.
Milan is 5th from last in the peloton.
Only 1km left till the summit.
Now Milan is beginning to get distanced.
Milan is losing ground, though he has Sobrero with him.
Milan is really struggling on these steep gradients near the summit though. He's over 30 seconds adrift.
Magnier is over 50 seconds behind.
KOM - BRIC BERTON
Movistar lead the peloton over the climb, with Mas, Rubio and Milesi all still there to help Aular.
Milan and Magnier's groups have joined together, but have 55 seconds to make up on the peloton.
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50KM TO GO
Milan, Magnier and others have 50km to return to the peloton, many of which are downhill.
EF have joined Movistar and NSN in setting the pace at the front of the peloton. Presumably, Mihkels is still in the group.
Will there be enough firepower in this chase, up against these three teams working together? At the moment they're not making up any ground, with the gap still at one minute.
The action here is breathless, but be sure to take a moment if you haven't already to read about what happened at stage one of the women’s Vuelta Burgos today.
It's advantage peloton, as the gap grows to 1:10.
Even if Milan and Magnier can make it back, will they still be fresh enough to win the sprint?
The gap's still growing out, now up to 1:20.
40KM TO GO
Movistar, NSN and EF are all still working together, and are pulling the peloton at a quicker pace than the chasers are managing, the lead having grown to 1:25.
The NSN rider pushing the peloton, Schultz, has overshot a corner of the descent and gone down. He's back up already though and back at the back of the peloton.
There's been a small split in the peloton, prompting those at the front and wait for the rest to join.
Amid these incidents, the gap has stopped growing, and remains at about 1:25.
Milan and Magnier have left behind everyone else and are working together to try and chase back by themselves.
Having had such a fierce rivalry in previous stages as Milan tried to escape Magnier's to get into the break, the pair now find themselves as allies against all the other sprinters.
Milan and Magnier have managed to reduce the gap between themselves a little, down to 1:15.
So what sprinters are left in the peloton? We know Strong, Mihkels and Aular are here based on their teammates’ work, but have any others managed to stealthily survive?
Could Jhonatan Narváez be in contention for yet another stage win? He defeated Aular on a similar stage on the Giro's forth day, although the uphill finish that day suited him much better than today's.
Ethan Vernon is also in the lead group. That gives NSN two options along with Strong, and Vernon is probably an even quicker sprinter.
Lots of Netcompany riders are in the lead group, including, it seems, Ben Turner.
Milan and Magnier haven't given up. They're in a group with other riders now, and are just over a minute down with 25km left to ride.
There's also a Red Bull KM coming up in about 10km, which could prompt some GC men to seek bonus seconds.
Mechanical for Ben Turner!
He's had to stop, but can he rejoin the group? He should have a race convoy to help him.
This is looking bad for Milan and Magnier. They're gap's growing out again, to 1:20.
Magnier trying to chase back on.
20KM TO GO
Milan and Magnier are now 1:25. It's looking increasinly unlikely that they will make it back to the peloton for the sprint finish.
There are some riders who wouldn't normally take part in a bunch sprint, but might fancy their chances in a reduced group like this one. Look out for Magnier's teammate Stuyven, and Silva and Stork, who were first and second on the stage two sprint.
Turner has teammate Haig with him, but noone else, as he tries to bridge back to the peloton following his pucture.
Afonso Eulálio attacks out of the bunch for the Red Bull KM!
Eulálio takes 6 seconds, O'Connor follows him for 4 seconds.
They drop back into the bunch, and the domestiques take over again.
That's it for Milan and Magnier. They've sat up, and allowed the gap to grow to over 2 minutes.
Their failure to get into the peloton could have implications in the points classification. If Jhonatan Narváez sprints and scores points, he could potentially make the Maglia Ciclamino jersey from Magnier.
10KM TO GO
Milan and Magnier aren't coming back, at 3 minutes. EF continue to lead the peloton though.
After a long chase, Ben Turner is back in the bunch! Will he have used up too much energy though?
There appears to be about 50 riders left in the peloton.
Visma riders mass towards the front for a unclassified uphill.
Arrieta is onto Ciccone's wheel, and they've got a small gap.
EF are trying to drag them back, with Beloki setting the pace.
Ciccone is liberated to attack with teammate Milan dropped.
They've both been brought back, the peloton is together as they enter the final 5km.
Visma take control of the peloton again.
Turner is dropped! It seems to be a legs problem this time rather than one related to his bike.
He must be spent from his efforts chasing back earlier.
Nobody is chasing, Visma have been left to ride tempo.
Van Den Bossche has attacked behind to try and chase.
Uno-X Mobility lead the chase, but it doesn't look like they're going to catch him.
Toon Aerts wins the sprint for second.
Thomas Silva was behind him to place third.
What a brilliant win that is from Alec Segaert. He nearly pulled off a similar move at Nokere Koerse, and won the GP de Denain - Porte du Hainau, but this is easily the biggest success of his career so far.
Segaert’s success comes at the expense of many sprinter’s disappointment, however. NSN, Movistar and EF did so much work, but their respective sprinters Vernon, Aular and Mihkels have to settle for 4th, 6th and 7th respectively.
Narváez only managed to finish 8th in the sprint, but he does now close the gap to Magnier in the points classification. Things could get very interesting in that competition if he starts targetting points.
1 Magnier 130
2 Narváez 119
3 Milan 76
4 Silva 70
5 Segaert 62
It was another great day in the Maglia Rosa for Afonso Eulálio, who even managed to increase his lead by 6 seconds by claiming the points at the Red Bull Kilometre.
Toon Aerts pulled off arguably the surprise of the day, defeating many more recognised sprinters to finish second. In what's been a difficult Giro for Lotto Intermarché, compounded by the abandonment of their leader Van Eetvelt, that's a very welcome result.
And breathe! From the early drama of the break being caught, to an intense chase of dropped sprinters trying to rejoin the peloton, to a last minute attack to mug the remaining sprinters, that stage had pretty much everything a non-GC day could have.
Tomorrow’s stage is similarly fascinatingly poised, with some late climbs to once again make life difficult for the sprinters. Be sure to join us again as we bring you all the action once more!
