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Giro Stage 12 Race Report: The day of the successful escape. The Break of the day was big and there was no rider who was a danger on GC. The lead group worked well, but the eventual splits came in the final 30 kilometres. Stefano Oldani, Lorenzo Rota and Gijs Leemreize held off the others for Oldani to win a cat-and-mouse sprint from Rota. Juan Pedro López is still in pink.
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The stage 12 finalé
Another close sprint – Stefano Oldani takes it for Alpecin-Fenix
The twelfth stage of the Giro d’Italia, finishing in Genova, was won by Stefano Oldani. After a stage for the escapees, the Italian defeated his county-man Lorenzo Rota and Dutchman Gijs Leemreize. This gives his Alpecin-Fenix team their second stage victory in this Giro. Juan Pedro López held his pink jersey for another day.
The leaders line up in Parma
The Route:
A challenging stage across the Apennines. The route ascends steadily with very mild gradients from Parma, along the Taro river valley and entering Liguria, through the uncomplicated Passo del Bocco. A long and technical descent follows, leading towards Carasco and into the Val Fontanabuona. The route then tackles the Colletta di Boasi and the Valico di Trensasco. The riders will pass along the motorway and cross the new San Giorgio bridge, heading for the finale in the city centre.
Final kilometres
After taking the motorway, the route crosses the San Giorgio bridge and takes the Genova Ovest exit (passing through a few tunnels), merging onto the Aldo Moro flyover up to the 2km mark. During the last 2km, the road is straight, wide and well paved. It is also slightly uphill, and with only one bend at the red triangle. The stage finishes on a tarmac road, at an approximate 2% gradient.
204 tough kilometres to Genova
The battle for the break of the day erupted from the start, but the attackers didn’t get a free pass from the peloton. Mathieu van der Poel was very active, as were all his Alpecin-Fenix teammates, but the first escape attempts by the Dutchman were nipped in the bud. A group with Pascal Eenkhoorn and Pieter Serry then managed to get away from the peloton, but this also turned out not to be the right move.
The Giro d’Italia will remember Wouter Weylandt today, passing the Passo del Bocco for the first time in 11 years
After 50 crazy kilometres the pace was still high and there was a complete peloton heading towards the first intermediate sprint of the day. It was no surprise to see the men of Arnaud Démare, the leader of the points classification, on the front. Groupama-FDJ managed to pilot their sprint leader to first place, ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Simone Consonni. The peloton then slowed.
A lot of fans in Parma
The break of the day:
Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën), Valerio Conti (Astana Qazaqstan), Mathieu van der Poel, Stefano Oldani, Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), Santiago Buitrago, Jasha Sütterlin (Bahrain-Victorious), Davide Gabburo, Luca Covilli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Matteo Sobrero, Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange-Jayco), Wilco Kelderman, Cesare Benedetti (BORA-hansgrohe), Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Vincenzo Albanese (EOLO-Kometa), Lorenzo Rota, Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Gijs Leemreize, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma), Michael Schwarzmann (Lotto Soudal), Will Barta (Movistar), Davide Ballerini (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Nico Denz and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).
We didn’t have to wait long for the first attacks
These 22 adventurers were the correct combination, and they were gone. With most team represented, the break was allowed to go, although Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè and Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli, the two Italian ProTeams, had surprisingly missed the boat.
In the end a big group got away
The Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè riders had to work in the peloton in the hope of rectifying their mistake. The difference kept hovering around the 1 minute and so Luca Covili and Davide Gabburo – two riders from Bardiani – and Edoardo Zardini for Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli tried to cross. The three Italians succeeded after a kilometre-long chase and so we now had 25 off the front at to the top of the Passo del Bocco, the climb where Wouter Weylandt tragically died.
Van der Poel made it into the big break
At the top of the climb, Mollema was first, for 9 KOM points, followed by Eenkhoorn and Ballerini. The peloton, led by Trek-Segafredo for pink jersey wearer Juan Pedro López, was 5 minutes behind at the top of the Passo del Bocco. Trek-Segafredo didn’t want to give the leading group too much time. The best placed rider in the leading group at the start was Wilco Kelderman at 11:02 from leader López. The lead kept fluctuating around 5 minutes, but it was clear that the stage winner would come from the front group.
Along the Taro river valley
After the descent of the Passo del Bocco, where race director Mauro Vegni paid tribute to the late Weylandt, the leading group rode steadily to the second climb of the day, the La Colletta (9 km at 4.3%). Halfway up the climb Lorenzo Rota decided to shake things up. The Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Italian rode away from his fellow escapees and was in the lead over the top of La Colletta. On the descent Rota was joined by two counter-attackers: Stefano Oldani and Gijs Leemreize. These three worked well together to pull away from the group.
The Wouter Weylandt memorial on the Passo del Bocco
The difference to the chasing group, containing the biggest favourites for the stage victory, quickly grew to 30 seconds. This was a perfect situation for Alpecin-Fenix . The Belgian team had someone off the front with Oldani, so their top man, Van der Poel could hide on the other wheels. The cooperation in the chase group was completely gone, as a result of which the lead of the three became increasingly larger. Rota, Leemreize and Oldani started the last climb of the day, the very tough Valico di Trensasco, with a 1 minute lead.
The villages are quite Alpine
Stefano Oldani, Gijs Leemreize and Lorenzo Rota made their move on La Colletta climb
The better climbers came forward on the Valico di Trensasco. Lucas Hamilton, Kelderman and Mollema managed to split the second group. Van der Poel managed to hang on in the first kilometre of the climb, but soon hit his limits and had to let one rider after the other go. With a Van der Poel in trouble, Alpecin-Fenix had to completely rely on Oldani. The Italian rode to the top of the Valico di Trensasco together with Rota and Leemreize. The Mollema-Kelderman group came a little closer, but still followed at more than half a minute.
The first group of chasers including Wilco Kelderman (BORA-hansgrohe) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) couldn’t get close to the three leaders
The three flew into Genova with a safe lead
The chasers were not able to bridge the gap on the flat kilometres to Genova. Rota, Oldani and Leemreize even managed to extend their lead again towards a minute. This was more than enough to stay out of the grasp of the first chase group and they would be safe to fight it out in the final. Going into the last 2 kilometres, the three started a game of poker. Leemreize tried a surprise move in the last kilometre and took a gap, but Oldani and Rota pulled back the young Dutchman.
Stefano Oldani and Lorenzo Rota fought it out for the stage win, Gijs Leemreize could only watch
Leemreize looked finished after this attack, but tried to take the victory with a long sprint. Oldani was ready for him and sat on the wheel of the Jumbo-Visma rider and then started his own sprint for the line. Rota tried his hardest to come back to the Alpecin rider, but couldn’t get past him and so Oldani took his first professional victory in Genova. Rota finished second, Leemreize was third after a tough battle. Less than a minute after Oldani, Mollema won the sprint for fourth place, ahead of Buitrago and Kelderman. Van der Poel rode in just before the peloton.
Oldani’s first pro win
Stage winner, Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix): “I knew I was fast but it wasn’t easy. Lorenzo Rota who is my friend is fast as well. So I watched out. The presence of Mathieu van der Poel has been crucial for me to make the 3-man final breakaway. It’s hard to believe that my first pro victory arrives at the Giro d’Italia. It’s wonderful!”
Oldani seems pleased
Maglia Rosa, Juan Pedro López Perez (Trek-Segafredo): “It’s been a crazily fast first hour! I was watching my computer and I couldn’t believe it. Was it 53km, 54 in one hour? Luckily the weather conditions are my favourites, like at my home in south of Spain. Nine days in the Maglia Rosa is a lot! But I wouldn’t mind some more.”
It was all too much for Stefano
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Giro d’Italia Stage 12 Result:
1. Stefano Oldani (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix in 4:26:47
2. Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
3. Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 0:02
4. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 0:57
5. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain-Victorious
6. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) BORA-hansgrohe
7. Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
8. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R Citroën at 1:44
9. Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux at 1:49
10. Ignatas Konovalovas (Ita) Groupama-FDJ at 2:55.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 12:
1. Juan Pedro López (Spa) Trek-Segafredo in 51:19:07
2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:12
3. Romain Bardet (Fra) DSM at 0:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) BORA-hansgrohe at 0:20
6. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis at 0:30
7. Mikel Landa (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 0:31
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux at 0:54
9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe at 1:11
10. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 1:24.
Watch the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 on GCN+. Go deeper and get interactive with live polls & quizzes, plus rider profiles, race updates, results & more – plus stream original and exclusive cycling documentaries. Watch it all with GCN+ on any device.
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