Giro d'Italia: Benedetti wins stage 12

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Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe) has spent his career helping others, but the Italian finally took his first professional victory in Pinerolo on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia. Benedetti had to chase back several times but made it into the leading group inside the final kilometre to beat Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) and Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) to the line.

Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), who was also in the day’s break and was dropped in the final kilometres, crossed the line shortly after Benedetti to take the race lead and pink jersey from his teammate Valerio Conti. The Italian was distanced on the main climb, and while he worked hard to chase back on afterwards, he was safe in the knowledge that Polanc would be the new race leader when all was said and done.

After everything shook out, Polanc would end the day with a 4:07 over Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) with Conti slipping down to third at 4:51 back.

The day was not expected to be a major one for the overall contenders, but Mikel Landa (Movistar) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) worked together with their teammates to gain just under 30 seconds on most of the general classification. The pair escaped on the only classified climb of the day and had help from teammates Jasha Sutterlin and Manuele Boaro respectively, for most of the final 20 kilometres of the stage.

Benedetti was one of 25 riders that broke clear of the peloton in the opening 20 kilometres. With Polanc making it into the group, UAE Team Emirates were happy to give the group plenty of space to manoeuvre and looked certain from early on that the break would succeed. It was still no easy prospect for Benedetti, who had dig deep on the first category climb of the Montoso to limit his losses.

As the descent came to an end, Benedetti managed to regain contact with the leading group, which was now just six riders but he still had the final unclassified cobbled climb just under three kilometres to the finish. He attacked as they approached the bottom of the steep ascent, but was quickly caught and passed. Once again, the Italian was forced to chase and he finally regained contact with just a few hundred metres remaining.

Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) was the first to try for the line, but Benedetti used his superior power to sail past his compatriot and take the win.

How it happened

Finally, the Giro d'Italia would be heading to the mountains with stage 12 something of a gateway to the tougher stages to come. Following a sedate few days, there would be many – including the fans – looking forward to a bit more action. The 158-kilometre stage from Cuneo to Pinerolo had just one classified climb, the Montoso, but it would be the first category 1 ascent of the race so far.

The more challenging terrain was reflected in the number of riders trying to get into the breakaway. Where the previous days saw the move go in the opening kilometre, it was more than 15 kilometres by the time the day's breakaway formed. The break was made up of 25 riders, including Polanc, Dunbar, Brambilla, Caruso, Benedetti, Sutterlin, Boaro, Dario Cataldo (Astana), Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data), Jan Bakelants (Sunweb), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), and Sean Bennett (EF Education First).

Polanc was the best-placed rider in the overall classification, having started the day just 5:24 behind his teammate. His team would set the pace in the peloton, looking after Conti in the maglia rosa, but there was no real effort in the chase and they allowed the gap to expand to over 15 minutes before other teams finally blinked.

With just under 70 kilometres to go, Bahrain-Merida reacted first before Jumbo-Visma came to help. Polanc might not be one of the big favourites, but they could not afford to give him such a big gap and the pace in the bunch ramped up to around 50kph as they sought to reduce their deficit.

Up front, as the gap began to come down bit by bit, Bennett decided to jump clear of the breakaway group with 59 kilometres still on the clock. It was a long way out, but the American Grand Tour debutant was likely thinking of the climb to come and giving himself a headstart. Whatever his motives, Haller thought it was a good idea and decided to join Bennett in his attack.

The first major ascent of the Giro

By the time they hit the climb, the two leaders had 30 seconds on the chasers and well over 12 minutes on the peloton behind. That first gap would quickly diminish as Caruso put the hammer down, dropping the bigger riders from the group in turn. Bennett and Haller would soon be among those that were scattered further down the climb, while Caruso continued to stretch things out. Among those able to stick with him were Polanc, Dunbar, Brambilla, Cataldo and Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

A number of attacks saw that group reduced to just those six riders. Meanwhile, with 35 kilometres to go and a gap of around 11:30, Jan Hirt (Astana) decided to have a go on the ascent, setting up an attack from his team leader Lopez a couple of kilometres later. Lopez's attack immediately lit up the peloton with Richard Carapaz (Movistar) chasing on, followed by Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).

The attack would be brought back by the major favourites but it distanced the pink jersey and isolated Roglic, who had no more teammates with him. As soon as Lopez, Hirt and co were brought back, Landa, with Lopez quick to chase him down.

As the leaders approached the top of the climb, Cataldo cracked and left just five at the head of the race. Polanc would then lose contact after an injection of pace from Brambilla with just a few hundred metres remaining. Brambilla was the first of the leaders to cross the climb, taking the full points available. While Roglic was alone in the main group of favourites, Nibali, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) had support from at least one teammate.

On the descent, the group of leaders grew with Polanc first, and then Cataldo and Matteo Montaguti (Androni-Giocattoli) making contact with 20 kilometres remaining. Meanwhile, a group led by De Gendt tried to close the gap that they had lost on the climb. Further back, Sutterlin and Manuele Boaro (Astana) waited for Landa and Lopez, who had around 30 seconds on the other GC contenders.

With 10 kilometres to go, Conti was furiously chasing the group of favourites, and with the help of Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep), the gap was coming down bit by bit. It had been over two minutes at one stage but it was now less than 1:30.

Further up the road, the other contenders were losing their patience with Roglic, who stuck firmly to the back of the group of his group. Meanwhile, Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) did his best to pull the group along and bring the Landa and Lopez group back. He wasn't getting much assistance and Landa, Lopez and their teammates were able to extend their gap while a large group of riders were able to regain contact with the favourites with around five kilometres to go. The group of Conti and Jungels also swelled in size, giving the pair plenty more help in their chase, but they were fighting against a group that was stronger too.

At the front of the race. Benedetti, who had made it back to the leading group, struck out on the cobbled climb, but he didn't have the power to hold off a surge of power from Brambilla, who had Capecchi on his wheel. In the background, Dunbar could be seen chasing them down, after getting stuck behind other riders when the move went. Off the cobbles and onto the descent, Dunbar finally made contact with the duo as the flamme rouge loomed. Caruso and Benedetti joined them inside the final kilometre.

Brambilla led the sprint to the line, but he was easily overhauled by Benedetti who looked calm and collected as he savoured the biggest moment in his career. Caruso managed to come in for second with Dunbar in third. Polanc was dropped on the final climb but had plenty of time to work with in search of a few days in the pink jersey.

Behind, Lopez and Landa finished 7:35 behind Benedetti with the main group of contenders crossed the line at 8:03. Jungels was probably the biggest loser of the day as he trailed across the line at 10:37 behind the winner.

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