Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) won a close-fought sprint on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia into Viadana, benefitting from a powerful lead-out from Wout van Aert in the final kilometre.
Van Aert and Visma found themselves on the front under the flamme rouge, after a big surge by Edoardo Affini, but it looked as though it was too early. However, the Belgian continued to press on, giving Kooij the red carpet ride into a crucial final corner, before completing a last surge which kept his sprinter out of the wind.
Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) opened things up past his compatriot, giving Kooij the perfect wheel to chase, which he came out of to win the second Giro stage of his career in a breathless sprint.
Van Uden held on for second, with Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) surging strongly for third in Lombardy. Maglia ciclamino Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) finished in fourth place.
"We were waiting for this one, well I was waiting. We grew into the race as a team with Simon [Yates] being in a good position, Wout [van Aert] taking that stage win. The other two sprints didn't go right, so today I'm really happy that we could do it," said Kooij after the finish.
"Only [Van Aert] can do it, so to have his support is extraordinary. I need to thank him and the rest of the team, they did a fantastic job so thanks to them.
"There's a lot of good competition, so you need to beat them all, and that's what we did today. We try to race our best every day and race for wins and good GC with Simon, so we're not done yet."
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) maintained his hold over the pink jersey by finishing safely in the bunch into Viadana, avoiding the chaos and hectic fight for position in the circuit finish. The Mexican even extended his GC lead with a sprint for 2 bonus seconds at the Red Bull kilometre in Brescello.
The 21-year-old heads into stage 13 with a now 33-second lead over teammate Juan Ayuso in the overall race. Home Italian hope Antonio Tiberi will start in third, as the peloton attacks an undulating 180km route from Rovigo to Vicenza.
How it unfolded
Mads Pedersen and race leader Isaac del Toro on the start line (Image credit: Getty Images)
As racing rolled out from Modena for stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia, there was little in the way of a fight for the breakaway, with three Italian riders getting away, before the peloton shut up shop and settled in for a planned sprint day.
Giosuè Epis (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta) and Manuele Tarozzi, whose team VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè were on home roads, got away, building an advantage as they passed through Maranello, home to the Ferrari headquarters.
Visma-Lease a Bike, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Alpecin-Deceuninck moved to the front to ensure the deficit didn't get out of control as the race headed out of Emilia-Romagna and into Lombardy for the first time at the 108th Giro. They had three of the favourites for the stage among their ranks, in Kooij, Bennett and Groves respectively.
As racing entered the hills in the middle of the stage, with short categorised climbs to Baiso and Borsea, the gap in the peloton went down significantly from three minutes down to 1:16, but it grew back out to two minutes over the 4.8km climb.
The rain continued to fall, however, making for some cautious kilometres for everyone in the peloton. The speeds were down, with the end of the hills bringing the next period of action – flat land with a chance of crosswinds.
With 55km to go, the breakaway trio had swept up the KOM and intermediate sprint points, but their time in front was about to end, as the threat of the wind caused all the GC times into a nervous move towards the front of the peloton.
The day's breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
All of the big teams moved into front position, ready to get ahead of any possible splits, or even cause them. But then came the bad luck for Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who suffered a mechanical 51km from the lines, requiring a quick bike change and rapid chase to get back in alongside Filippo Baroncini.
Pietrobon was the last of the breakaway standing, but he too was reabsorbed with more than 30km remaining in the day, as the GC riders eyed up a chance at scoring more bonus seconds at the Red Bull kilometre in Brescello.
The last escapee took the maximum six seconds available, with Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers) peeling off the front to take away the four seconds; however, Del Toro sprinted strongly to mop up the remaining two seconds, extending his lead to 33 seconds from his teammate Ayuso.
The peloton entered the circuit in Viadana and caught the breakaway with 26km remaining, but they were not afforded a look at the crucial final corner 350 metres from the line, approaching the circuit from a different entry.
Tricky roads saw the lead of the peloton change hands several times, with all the GC teams looking for safety, while the sprinter's squads tried to find the ideal position for the final few corners and sprint.
Visma won the aggressive fight for the crucial final left-hand corner, with Van Aert leading Kooij through the final corner and into the charge for the line. The stage 9 winner had enough power in his legs to keep the speed up, giving Kooij the perfect launch.
Van Uden went early as he picked up speed in Turner's wheel, but it turned out to be too early, with Kooij just having enough to come around him before the line.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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