Giro d'Italia: Andrea Vendrame wins stage 12

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Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën) ended a string of placings and disappointments with victory in Bagno di Romagna after riding aggressively in the Apennines hills to win stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia.

Vendrame was the first to attack from the break over the top of the final climb and then read the finale well, going away with Chris Hamilton (Team DSM) in the final kilometres before beating the Australian in a two-rider sprint.  

Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) beat George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) for third place, some 15 seconds down on Vendrame, after the pair missed the late attack and then looked at each other to chase. 

The Italian frustratingly flicked the Kiwi across the road in the final metres and then criticised him for not helping in the chase in post-race comments. Race judges were not impressed and soon relegated him to fourth place. The peloton finished 10:14 behind with Ineos Grenadiers carefully protecting Egan Bernal and his pink jersey. 

Vincenzo Nibali tried an attack with Giulio Ciccone over the top of the final climb and then the veteran Sicilian pressed on alone on the descent in a show of pride. Gianni Moscon tried to close him down but crashed on a hairpin. Nibali fought on and finished seven seconds ahead of the peloton. He remains 4:04 down on Bernal in the overall classification.

Vendrame was understandably emotional after his hard-fought stage win. 

“I'm super happy because I tried in 2019 but I was second and Chavez won that day, and I tried also last year but I was in a bad position,” the Italian said.

“I have been training hard this year and I made a dream come true. I'm really happy. We've been working to try to get the blue jersey for Bouchard and then in the finish we made it so I could try and get the victory.”

How it unfolded

After the stress and the sterrato dirt roads of the stage to Montalcino, stage 12 from Siena to Bagno di Romagna offered little chance to recover, with 3,700 metres of climbing in the Apennines and 212km of racing - the second longest day in the saddle of this year’s Corsa Rosa. 

The stage started in the spectacular Piazza il Campo in Siena that traditionally hosts the Palio horse race and of course Strade Bianche. The stage was perfect for a breakaway yet again and Filippo Fiorelli (Bardiani-CSF) was the first to start the attacks as the race rolled up and down the Chianti hills towards Florence. Just three kilometres after the start Marc Soler (Movistar) crashed hard and spent a long spell in the wheel of his team car. He tried to fight on but eventually climbed off due to severe pain in his back. He was the latest GC contender to abandon the Giro after Mikel Landa and Pavel Sivakov.

Later in the first hour, Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) also crashed out, while Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious), Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal), Faisto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) all retired due to illness and injury.  

At the front of the race Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) went on the attack, inspiring others and a 48km/h opening hour of racing.  The break of the day finally formed after the Giro reached Florence and paid tribute to two of Tuscany’s greatest cycling figures: Gino Bartali, who won the Giro d’Italia three times and the Tour de France twice, and legendary Italian national coach Alfredo Martini, who masterminded many of the Italian world titles in the eighties and nineties. 

The 16-rider move included George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Geoffrey Bouchard, Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën), Mikkel Honoré (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Guy Niv (Israel Start-Up Nation), Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka Assos), Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix), Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa), Simone Ravanelli, Natnael Tesfazion (Androni-Giocattoli-Sidermec).

Goivanni Visconti (Bardiani-CSF) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) managed to get across soon after. The peloton let them go with the Ineos Grenadiers putting Salvatore Puccio and Filippo Ganna on the front to lead the peloton. However, after the aggression and time gained on the dirt roads to Montalcino, they were happy to let the break go and the gap open enough to allow the break to stay away.

De Bondt was first through the sprint, ahead of Honoré and Petilli after 73km, while Bouchard was then first to the summit of Monte Morello to defend his blue mountain jersey. The Frenchman was the first over the Passo della Consuma after 130km as the race stabilized and the break worked together to stay away and ride through a series of rain showers.

The longer and higher Passo della Calla cracked some of the riders in the break, making a natural selection but most got back on during the long descent from Tuscany into the Romagna region. Bouchard again took the maximum points at the summit, with Ineos leading the peloton at 10:15.

The final climb of the Passo del Carnaio was the steepest of the stage, and the last, meaning it was always going to be decisive for the break. Brambilla was aggressive and on edge but Vendrame was the first to get away mid-climb. He was joined by Bennett, Hamilton, and Brambilla and they surged away on the top of the climb and the fast descent.   

They stayed together until Hamilton and Vendrame attacked with three kilometres to go, as Brambilla and Bennett blinked and refused to chase for the other. 

Vendrame then turned his many sprint placings into a Giro d’Italia stage victory.