photo credits @ Twitter
Philippe Gilbert (BMC) claimed stage 12 of this year’s Giro d’Italia, with a perfectly timed attack during the final steep climb of today’s stage to take a rainy victory in Vincenza.
BMC provided Gilbert with the perfect strip stream to follow in during the final 1 kilometer ascent to the finish, with the Belgian rider launching his attack just at the right moment to catch the lone escapee, Tanel Kangert (Astana), who managed to jettison his fellow breakaway companion, Franco Pellizotti (Androni-Sidermec), during today’s penultimate climb.
However, Kangert was unable to maintain his pace as a reduced peloton began to rapidly close in on him.
Race Highlights
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was responsible for creating the greatly reduced peloton of about 30 riders, after upping the pace significantly on the climb of the Crosara during the final 27 kilometers.
From there, the Spanish rider managed to navigate the treacherous, wet descent, which saw a number of riders hit the tarmac, to ultimately power his way to second place – just 3 seconds behind Gilbert.
As a result, Contador extended his lead over second place Fabio Aru (Astana), thanks to additional bonus points he picked up.
Contador now sits 17 seconds ahead of Aru and still over three minutes ahead of Team Sky’s Richie Porte, who also finished in the front group.
Stage 12 Results
BEL 1 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) 4:22:50 ESP 2 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 3 ITA 3 ULISSI, Diego (LAMPRE – MERIDA) GER 4 GESCHKE, Simon (GIANT – ALPECIN) ITA 5 BATTAGLIN, Enrico (BARDIANI CSF) ITA 6 TIRALONGO, Paolo (ASTANA) ESP 7 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 6 COL 8 BETANCUR GOMEZ, Carlos Alberto (AG2R LA MONDIALE) BEL 9 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO SOUDAL) ESP 10 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) COL 11 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) AUS 12 PORTE, Richie (SKY) ITA 13 FORMOLO, Davide (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) ITA 14 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) ITA 15 VISCONTI, Giovanni (MOVISTAR) CZE 16 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF – SAXO) CZE 17 KONIG, Leopold (SKY) + 11 SUI 18 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (IAM CYCLING) COL 19 ATAPUMA HURTADO, Darwin (BMC RACING) CRC 20 AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR)
General Classification after Stage 12
ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF – SAXO) 51:17:06 ITA 2 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 17 ESP 3 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) + 55 ITA 4 CATALDO, Dario (ASTANA) + 1:30 CZE 5 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:55 COL 6 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 2:18 ITA 7 VISCONTI, Giovanni (MOVISTAR) + 2:21 ITA 8 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) + 2:28 CRC 9 AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR) + 2:38
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