Giro d’Italia 2023: Nico Denz wins after breakaway chaos, Geraint Thomas holds pink as mountains loom
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Updated 18/05/2023 at 16:35 GMT
It was another day for the breakaway on Stage 12 at the Giro d’Italia as Nico Denz claimed a maiden Grand Tour victory. Geraint Thomas ticked off another day in the leader’s pink jersey but will be acutely aware of bigger challenges to come with a brutal trip to the mountains arriving on Friday. He leads Primoz Roglic by two seconds, with Joao Almeida in third at 22".
Stage 12 highlights: Denz wins after breakaway battle, Thomas avoids drama
A huge 30-man breakaway animated an intriguing Stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia before four riders extricated themselves in a deluge with 90km to tee up a well-deserved win for the German journeyman Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Denz was part of a leading trio that tore strips off each other on the final climb of the day but crested the summit together as one. Denz then got the better of Latvia’s Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Australian debutant Sebastian Berwick (Israel-PremierTech) in an exciting drag race finish in Rivoli.
On a day of attrition for the general classification favourites, Welsh veteran Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the main peloton over eight minutes in arrears. Ahead of Friday’s summit showdown at Crans Montana, Thomas retained his slender two-second lead over Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) with Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) lurking a further 20 seconds back in third.
With four men in the initial breakaway, Skujins’ Trek-Segafredo team guided Mads Pedersen to maximum points in the first intermediate sprint in the picturesque Langhe hills as the Dane moved to within 24 points of the maglia ciclamino of Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious).
After the breakaway broke up on a flat, exposed plain as the rain pounded down, Skujins put in several attacks on the Colle Briada but was unable to distance Berwick or Denz. The trio crested the summit 40km from the finish with a gap of over three minutes on a disorganised chase group – and despite a few hairy moments on the damp descent, they ensured it would be a three-way battle for spoils at the finish.
Denz still tried his luck on an uphill incline with 12km remaining, but Skujins latched on and Berwick dug deep to fight back into contention. The big German – riding his sixth Giro d’Italia – then proved his powerhouse pedigree in the final sprint to take an emotional win, five years after he narrowly missed out to Matej Mohoric in Stage 10 of the 2018 edition of the race.
“I don’t know what to say – it’s really big for me and I’m obviously super proud,” Denz said. “First of all, I was not supposed to be in the breakaway but I got the green light to go. I looked around me and was surrounded by just monsters so I thought I’d just help [Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate] Konnie [Patrick Konrad] for the win.
“I knew I wanted to attack on a little kicker, which I did. Obviously, everything came back together but I have a fast finish and that saved me in the end. I’m over the moon right now.”
Frantic opening hour as peloton blows apart
The 185km stage was a spectacle from the start as the lumpy roads of the stunning Langhe hills provided an ideal backdrop for an explosive opening hour that eventually saw 30 riders come together.
In this super group could be found seasoned specialists in Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), renowned climbers in Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Patick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa), and a duo of puncheur sprinters in Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla).
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Awkward gaffe as Formolo and Frigo take wrong turn at roundabout
The gap stretched out to four minutes over the peloton on the gentle but long slog up the opening Cat.3 climb to Pedaggera before Pedersen kept to the script by winning the intermediate sprint at Ceresole d’Alba ahead of Matthews.
But then the narrative veered off-piste when a sudden downpour turned things on its head as five riders suddenly went clear of the break at the same moment as the peloton eased up through the feedzone following a crash involving the former pink jersey Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM).
Denz, Skujins and Berwick joined forces with Italian duo Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani) and Samuele Battistella (Astana-Qazaqstan) – although the latter soon dropped back after an apparent mechanical. With the best part of 90km left to ride, it seemed like a kamikaze move from a collection of the less-fancied climbers of the break.
But as each of the four riders had team-mates behind, the gap kept on growing as attempt after attempt was closed down – leaving the likes of Bettiol and compatriot Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) frustrated.
With the rain easing up, the four leaders passed through the finish town of Rivoli for the first time with an advantage of three minutes ahead of the decisive ascent of the Colle Braida.
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Nico Denz and Alessandro Tonelli lead the breakaway in Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia 2023
Image credit: Getty Images
Bettiol eventually formed a chasing trio alongside Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Alex Baudin (AG2R Citroen), with Oldani leading the charge in a third group behind. But it was too little, too late.
Tonelli was dropped from the leading quartet on the steeper second half of the climb before Berwick was forced to fight back on after several accelerations from Skujins and Denz.
The Latvian led the trio over the top and down into the valley before Denz’s unexpected attack from distance seemed to spell the end for Berwick – on the hunt for his Israel-PremierTech’s first WorldTour win of the season, and his own first win as a professional.
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'Finally it’s his!' – Denz ends wait for Grand Tour win
When Berwick clawed his way back on, he refused to do any work and instead sat back in third wheel and gathered his forces ahead of the final sprint, which came after a slight uphill rise into Rivoli.
The 23-year-old Australian opened up the sprint from the back with 250m remaining but quickly popped after Denz and Skujins went shoulder-to-shoulder in a thrilling drag race to the line, with the Bora rider having enough gas in the tank to secure back-to-back wins on the Giro for German, one day after compatriot Pascal Ackermann took the spoils in Tortona.
Tonelli came home for fourth before Italy’s Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) took fifth after kicking clear of the chase group on the run into the finish. Belgium’s Ilan Van Wilder – one of just three Soudal Quick-Step riders remaining – led the chasers home for sixth place 2’20” down before the remnants of the break arrived in dribs and drabs ahead of the peloton.
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'Solid day' - Thomas after surviving Stage 12
Denz’s Austrian team-mate Konrad rose three places to 13th on GC, while the American Kuss and Italy’s Formolo also made small time gains. Kuss and Formolo, however, will be riding in support of their respective leaders Roglic and Almeida on Friday when the fight for pink enters a new phase on the second summit finish of the race.
Stage 13 includes two Cat.1 climbs – the snow-shortened Gran San Bernardo and Croix de Coeur – before the race enters Switzerland for a mountaintop showdown at Crans Montana, where Britain’s Thomas will defend his precarious grip on the pink jersey. Expect fireworks and a major shuffling of the pack.
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