France’s Julian Alaphilippe held off the chasing pack after a huge breakaway to claim his first win of the Giro d’Italia with victory in stage 12.
The 193km route from Martinsicuro to Fano featured enough climbs to deny the sprinters the chance to catch Alaphilippe, who broke away from a large leading group with more than 100km to go.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider, 31, who came close to winning stage six but was beaten on the line by Pelayo Sanchez, joined the initial break of 40 riders before powering away from the pack alongside Italian Mirco Maestri.
The Polti-Kometa rider ran out of steam with 15km remaining as Alaphilippe moved to the front alone.
Quinten Hermans and Jhonatan Narvaez began closing in but the Frenchman had enough resolve to cross the line first, with Narvaez finishing in front of Hermans to take second.
Tadej Pogacar, meanwhile, finished in the peloton to retain the overall leader’s pink jersey.
“I always believed I could win but until the last kilometres I had to push full gas. The chasers were close behind me,” Alaphilippe said.
“It was my dream to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia. It makes me really happy. It’s an important win for me after difficult times,” Alaphilippe said.
Stage 12 result
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Soudal-Quick Step) 4hrs 07mins 44secs
2. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +31secs
3. Quinten Hermans (Bel/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +32secs
4. Michael Valgren (Den/EF Education-EasyPost) +43secs
5. Christian Scaroni (Ita/Astana-Qazaqstan Team) Same time
6. Matteo Trentin (Ita/Tudor Pro Cycling) +1min 30secs
7. Simon Clarke (Aus/Israel-Premier Tech) Same time
8. Gijs Leemreize (Ned/DSM-Firmenich PostNL)
9. Mirco Maestri (Ita/Polti-Kometa)
10. Benjamin Thomas (Fra/Cofidis)
General classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) 45hrs 22mins 35secs
2. Daniel Martinez (Col/Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:40
3. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +2:56
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +3:39
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +4:27
6. Romain Bardet (Fra/DSM-Firmenich PostNL) +4:57
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita/Astana-Qazaqstan Team) +5:19
8. Filippo Zana (Ita/Jayco-AlUla) +5:23
9. Einer Rubio (Col/Movistar) +5:28
10. Thymen Arensman (Ned/Ineos Grenadiers) +5:52
Source Agencies
