As it happened: Denz the best of the breakaway on Giro d'Italia stage 12

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia!

There's just over half an hour to the start of today's stage.

The riders will set off at 12:25 local time to complete the 7.5km neutral zone out of Bra.

The stage proper will kick off in around 50 minutes.

A look at the map of today's stage. The peloton will be taking on 185 mostly flat kilometres north across the region of Piemonte to Rivoli.

Two climbs lie on the route of today's stage, though only the late Colle Braida figures to be a major difficulty. The second-category climb is 9.8km at 7.1% with its peak coming 28km from the line.

In contrast to the mass withdrawals of the previous two days, only rider is a confirmed DNS today. Alessandro Covi leaves the race after suffering a possible fractured sacrum in yesterday's mid-stage crash.

The crash took out GC favourites Geraint Thomas, Primož Roglič, and Tao Geoghegan Hart, with the latter forced out of the race as a result.

The Briton, who was in third overall, has suffered a fractured hip, Ineos Grenadiers announced.

Movistar rider Oscar Rodríguez was another DNF yesterday after crashing further down the same descent.

37 riders have now left the race. You can check out the full list of Giro d'Italia abandons with our comprehensive rundown.

Yesterday's stage ended with a reduced bunch sprint after a late crash split the peloton. It was a very close one at the line, with Pascal Ackermann getting the better of Jonathan Milan, Mark Cavendish, and Mads Pedersen.

Read our stage 11 report here, or check out our as it happened live report here.

Laurens Rex wears the red number of the combativity prize today. The Belgian was the last man standing from the break of the day on stage 11.

Check out the stage 11 results and the current GC standings here.

The riders are ready to go and are just about to roll out in Bra.

The peloton takes a minute of silence ahead of the start to honour those affected by the flooding in Emilia-Romagna.

139 riders roll out to start stage 12.

All smiles for Primož Roglič at the start. He was caught up in the crash yesterday and suffered some cuts but he's OK.

Primoz Roglic, Sepp Kuss left bloodied but still in Giro d'Italia after crashes

American cuts finger in front wheel while taking off his shoe covers

The peloton still rolling through the neutral zone currently.

185km to go

The flag drops and the riders are on their way on stage 12.

Attacks flowing from the very start here.

Filippo Fiorelli on the attack for Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.

182km to go

The Italian has a small gap as the riders take on an early unclassified climb.

Anton Palzer (Bora-Hansgrohe) jumps at the front of the peloton with Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën) on his wheel.

The jersey holders at the start of the day, including maglia rosa Geraint Thomas.

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Now stage 8 winner Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) flows to the front.

Fiorelli caught and there's no separation at the front of the peloton at the moment.

177km to go

Now a large group has a gap off the front.

Mickaël Cherel (AG2R Citroën) off the rear early on. He has reportedly been ill in recent days.

Now the group is caught by the front of the peloton. 

Israel-Premier Tech on the move with Derek Gee again!

Harm Vanhoucke (Team DSM) also out the back of the peloton.

Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) also out the back.

The riders are climbing again now and more riders are dropped from the peloton.

174km to go

Big splits in the peloton on this hill.

Derek Gee leading the way at the front.

Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) on the attack now.

The Welshman has a small gap at the front.

Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) is right at the back of the race. Eurosport on-bike reporter Jens Voigt says he's really struggling and will face a fight to finish today.

Most sprinters are out the back here. Jay Vine also dropped in a group with maglia ciclamino Jonathan Milan.

Groups all over the road already.

Israel-Premier Tech very active early on as they seek another breakaway stage win.

170km to go

Still no move away as of yet. The riders are over the top of that hill and heading downhill.

Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) leading at the moment. A larger group follows at around 10-15 seconds. The peloton, led by Ineos Grenadiers, next on the road.

The peloton is already only around 40-50 riders.

Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) among the riders in the second group on the road.

165km to go

Frigo and Formolo now caught by the large second group.

It looks like around 30 riders in that group off the front!

Sepp Kuss is in the group, as is Mads Pedersen.

Ineos Grenadiers are controlling the peloton and it looks like they're happy with that move.

It's not a comprehensive list of men in the break but here's what we know so far...

Van Wilder, Baudin, V.Paret-Peintre, Battistella, Pronskiy, Scaroni, Sutterlin, Denz, Konrad, Bettiol, Tonelli, Huys, Berwick, Frigo, Williams, Hessmann, Kuss, Rubio, Stojnic, Matthews, Pedersen, Mollema, Skujins, Formolo, Lastra

The major names in the move: Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Mads Pedersen, Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep)

Trek have four men in the move. Israel and Astana have three. Jumbo, AG2R, Bora, and Bahrain have two.

Ineos Grenadiers, Team DSM, Groupama-FDJ, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Arkéa-Samsic, and Eolo-Kometa not represented in the move.

It looks like a total of 25-30 riders in the break.

158km to go

1:30 from the peloton to the breakaway currently.

Now more attacks fly from the peloton.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), Davide Gabburo (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) are on the move.

And now the sprinters group is back in the peloton.

155km to go

The riders are heading uphill again to the third-category climb at Pedaggera.

A look at the attacking early on the stage.

Eolo-Kometa now leading the peloton. They have nobody out front in the break so they're not happy with the situation.

No GC threats in the break. Patrick Konrad is the closest man to the maglia rosa at 8:43.

Milan has given up the ghost in the chase.

Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) flies past Milan as he attacks out of the peloton with a rider from Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.

Fortunato and the Bardiani rider Covili catch Oldani and Gabburo.

The quartet are 50 seconds down on the break.

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is out of the Giro d'Italia. He was ill, looked to be suffering a lot yesterday and came to the finish 10:45 down.

138 riders left in the race now.

148km to go

Nico Denz and Amanuel Ghebreizabhier sprinted for the KOM points at the top of the hill. Denz grabbed the nine points.

The chase group continues at around 50 seconds down. Over two minutes back to the peloton now.

Great scenery today, as ever when there's nice weather at the Giro.

138km to go

Oldani, Gabburo, Covili, and Fortunato have joined the break!

30 riders in there now and three for Bardiani.

Ineos Grenadiers are keeping the gap to the break low at just under three minutes.

130km to go

No change in the situation. All working well in the big break.

Ineos letting the gap go out bit by bit. It's up to 3:20 now.

The breakaway out on the road today.

118km to go

3:23 for the breakaway now. They're about to take on a small uncategorised hill, with the intermediate sprint coming up in just over 10km.

Mads Pedersen in the breakaway. He'll be looking for 12 points at the intermediate sprint get to within 24 points of Milan's maglia ciclamino. 

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Ineos Grenadiers and maglia rosa Geraint Thomas lead the peloton.

107km to go

The breakaway riders are 2km from the intermediate sprint now.

And it has started to rain out on course.

Pedersen vs Matthews at the intermediate sprint as Sütterlin tries to disrupt the sprint on behalf of Milan.

It's Pedersen who takes the sprint and the 12 points to close in on Milan.

Ineos Grenadiers lead the peloton through the sprint point 3:20 behind the break.

Milan continues in the lead of the points classification at 164. Pedersen now second at 140.

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Into the final 100km and it's a long, flat run to the next climb on the stage.

Over 50km to go until they hit the Colle Braida.

Rain jackets on for all the riders now. The horrible weather is back as the races passes through Carmagnola.

92km to go

Attack at the front of the break!

Berwick, Denz, Tonelli, Skujins, Battistella are away.

The quintet have a few seconds on the rest of the break.

28 seconds between the attackers and the break! Not sure that's right but whatever.

Battistella is dropping from the attacking group.

Battistella back with the rest of the breakaway.

News on Kaden Groves from his Alpecin-Deceuninck team.

A sizeable crash in the middle of the peloton on the wet roads in the feed zone...

Former maglia rosa Andreas Leknessund was caught in the fall.

Mikaël Chérel (AG2R Citroën) is reportedly the latest rider to leave the Giro d'Italia after suffering from an illness. He's the 39th rider to abandon, leaving 137 in the race.

Giro d'Italia abandons: The full list of riders who have left the race

81km to go

A minute now between the attackers and the break. The peloton is a further three minutes back.

Tonelli, Denz, Skujins, and Berwick are only making more and more time here.

78km to go

1:55 for the attackers now!

4:55 from them to the Ineos-led peloton.

It's easing up in the peloton now. 5:30 the latest gap as Thomas drops back to the Ineos team car.

Plenty of riders pulling through in the main breakaway. They're not making much of an impression on the leaders, though.

Tonelli, Skujins, Berwick, Denz working very well together.

70km to go

Now 2:30 to the break and 6:40 to the peloton.

A look at the break before the attack off the front – and before the rain.

More riders trying to push on in the chase now. Bettiol and Van Wilder among them.

63km to go

Three minutes up to the leaders, who are 7:30 up on the peloton.

Oldani joins Van Wilder and Bettiol on the attack, though they only have a few metres.

These attacks from the break have all happened on flat roads.

Battistella is sick, which is why he dropped back from that move, according to Jens Voigt on the Eurosport motorbike.

Meanwhile Bahrain Victorious DS Franco Pellizotti says that Jack Haig was caught in that feed zone crash earlier.

Harm Vanhoucke (Team DSM) has abandoned the race suffering with stomach problems. He was out the rear of the peloton early on today.

136 riders left in the race after the abandons of Vanhoucke, Cherel, Groves today.

Nobody has managed to get free of the chasing breakaway group.

58km to go

Now 8:20 from the leaders to the peloton. They've really knocked it off.

Confirmation of Vanhoucke's abandon.

Just over 10km to go until the second and final intermediate sprint of the day. The climb starts shortly after that.

54km to go

Through the intermediate sprint – which will serve as the finish line later – for the leaders now.

Berwick leads the way in Rivoli. No sprinting up front.

Riders keep trying to break away at the front of the chase group. Baudin, Scaroni, and Bettiol are clear now.

Three minutes from the leading quartet to Baudin, Scaroni and Bettiol.

The next group – Oldani, Lastra, Huys, Frigo, Stojnic – is at 3:40.

The main break is at 3:50 while the peloton is nearly nine minutes down.

Mads Pedersen has dropped back from the main breakaway, meanwhile.

Here's the climb, which the riders are soon to start.

39km to go

Pedersen caught by the peloton.

Tonelli, Denz, Berwick, Skujins make their way onto the climb 2:40 up on Baudin, Scaroni and Bettiol.

8:40 from the leaders to the peloton.

The second chase group behind the break has more riders in it now. Formolo is among the riders who have made it across.

Formolo, Oldani, Sütterlin, Lastra, Huys, Frigo, Stojnic, Paret-Peintre in the third group on the road.

35km to go

The leaders now 2:17 up on the chasers, then 40 more seconds to the Formolo group.

Tonelli leading the front group.

The gruppetto has formed at the rear of the peloton.

A 6% average on this first part of the climb before a small descent in the middle. The final 4km average 8.1%.

Ineos Grenadiers continue to lead the peloton at eight minutes down on the peloton.

Still all together at the head of the race. Skujins leading it ahead of Denz, Tonelli, and Berwick.

Now Tonelli drops a few metres and he's off the back.

32km to go

Berwick also having trouble keeping up.

Sivakov leading the peloton for Ineos Grenadiers. Impressive after his crash and injuries yesterday.

The chasers are losing ground on the leading trio. 2:45 to Baudin, Scaroni, Bettiol. Another 30 seconds to the next group. The main breakaway is four minutes down.

It looks like the stage will be contested among Denz, Skujins, and Berwick unless Tonelli can make it back on the descent and run to the line.

30km to go

Denz, Berwick, Skujins closing in on the top of the climb.

The chase groups behind are fracturing. Baudin drops from Scaroni and Bettiol.

Bettiol and Scaroni are three minutes down now, though.

Denz is just about hanging on to Skujins and Berwick.

Now the chase groups have come together as Formolo's group catches Bettiol and Scaroni.

300 metres to the top for the leading trio!

28km to go

Denz managed to hang on to Berwick and Skujins over the top.

Skujins leads Berwick and Denz across the summit.

18, 8 and 6 points for them.

Marco Frigo goes on the attack in the group behind the lead trio.

Nothing happening in the peloton.

And no word on where Tonelli is on the mountain after being dropped from the front of the race.

21km to go

Skujins squeezes up the inside of Denz heading around a corner and forcing the German to adjust to avoid an accident.

Still three minutes back to Frigo and the rest of the chase. It's all about the lead trio today.

A fast downhill run before the largely flat road back to Rivoli.

16km to go

No change in the situation as the riders continue flying down the descent.

More riders make it across to the chase group, including Rubio and Hessmann.

Frigo is 3:10 down on the leaders and a further 15 seconds on the larger chase group he attacked out of.

8:25 from the break to peloton.

12km to go

The end of the descent for the leaders and a small hill now.

Denz attacks!

Skujins goes after him but Berwick can't match the pace.

10km to go

Berwick coming back on the short descent now.

9km to go

Berwick is back at the front now.

Kuss is in the chase group now, though they are still three minutes down.

Tonelli is around a minute off the front.

8km to go

Skujins, Berwick, and Denz have plenty of time to play with. They're already playing some games.

Almost nine minutes back to the peloton.

Berwick says "I'm not doing shit" when asked to take a turn at the front.

6km to go

The trio continue on together. Not pushing the pace as nobody wants to fully commit on the front.

Denz and Skujins take turns on the front.

5km to go

Still over three minutes to the next group on the road so they'll have no problems if they slow up on the road to the line.

Ineos continue to lead the peloton at 8:35 down.

Skujins, Berwick, and Denz on the climb earlier.

Berwick still at the rear of the trio.

Skujins tightens his shoe dials.

3km to go

They haven't lost much time to the next group on the road. Three minutes remains the gap.

Still no attacks at the front.

The final kilometre dips down initially before a very small incline at 750 metres to go. Could be a launchpad...

2km to go

Still we wait for a move up front.

Denz swings across the road and the others follow.

1.5km to go

Berwick still on the back of the group.

Skujins checks around monitoring for an attack.

Denz on the front here.

It looks like the German will lead it into the final kilometre.

1km to go

Denz checks around on his breakmates.

Denz followed by Skujins and Berwick.

A short downhill before the small rise.

Denz is the quickest finisher on paper...

It's very slow at the front now.

500m to go

Still no moves.

Denz leads it out.

They're winding it up!

Berwick launches from the rear.

Denz and Skujins respond!

Berwick has no sprint against these two.

Skujins pulls alongside Denz but the German has the most power.

Finish

Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia!

A second German winner in two days!

Tonelli is fourth at a minute down while Frigo takes fifth ahead of the remains of the break.

Denz celebrates his win in Rivoli!

The breakaway group rolls home at 2:20 down.

Denz wins his first Grand Tour stage on his sixth participation at the Giro.

Giro d'Italia: Nico Denz powers to breakaway-sprint victory on stage 12

Toms Skujins second, Sebastian Berwick third in Rivoli

Denz's teammate Patrick Konrad finished in the break group at around 3:50 down. He'll get a nice boost up the GC of just over four minutes.

Here's what Denz had to say after the stage...

"I don't know what to say. It's really big for me and obviously I'm super proud.

"First of all I wasn't supposed to be in the breakaway. It was Konny and Pop [Konrad and Palzer], but he said he wasn't at his best and he wanted to save for tomorrow to be there for Lenny [Kämna], so I got the green light to go. We were able to bridge across to the breakaway and when I looked around there were just monsters around – only big guys.

"I thought it was going to be difficult for me to do something, and I was thinking I could help Konny to do something to win the stage. But the collaboration was really, really bad and I was still going at the front and we suddenly had a gap and fully pushed on.

"On the last climb, I was on my very limit. I barely made it over the top. Once I achieved that, I knew that the little kicker with a roundabout coming up. I prepared that stage actually. I had it in my mind already before. I knew I had to throw everything in on the kicker to attack there. Obviously everything came back together, but I also have quite a fast finish and that saved me in the end. I'm over the moon right now."

And the runner-up, Toms Skujins...

"Already from the beginning it was a really big group. I knew from that group that I wouldn't be able to win so the plan was to go early. It wasn't that early but suddenly we had a gap, the five of us then four of us. On the climb we went as hard as we could to try and drop Nico but he hung on and then he won the sprint.

"In that big group we had four guys. The first mission of the day was to get as many points as possible for Mads at the intermediate. We accomplished that. Then we were going to go early to try and see what we could do to drop the climbers before the climb. I owe a big thank you to them – I'm sorry I couldn't deliver a win for them. The legs were there but Nico had better legs."

And here's what the third-placed man, Sebastian Berwick, had to say...

"Close but very far. I knew that last climb was my last opportunity, I guess. But in the end they were strong enough to stay with me and then I got distanced on that last attack and it was a bit like "fuck", you know? I didn't have much left and my calves were cramping a bit, so that's how life went.

"I didn't have much in the sprint obviously, 58kg against 75kg is a bit hard to win. But I tried my best out there and we'll try again tomorrow, I guess. Obviously I kept fighting, it's a Giro stage. I was in the hunt for a win and you never know what happens – Stephen Bradbury and all that.

"Two seconds and a third now. We're biting at it so we hope it comes soon."

Denz celebrates his stage win on the podium.

Geraint Thomas remains in the maglia rosa as race leader.

Jonathan Milan is still the maglia ciclamino, though Mads Pedersen closed the gap by 12 points today.

Another day in the maglia azzurra as best climber for Davide Bais.

And finally, João Almeida remains the best young rider, even if he prefers to wear his Portuguese champion's jersey during the stages.

A look at the final-kilometre breakaway battle that concluded today's stage...

We'll have news, reaction and a stage 13 preview coming in throughout the evening, so watch out for that. And we'll be back tomorrow with live coverage as the race hits the Alps.