Giro d’Italia Stage 12 Race Report: Visma | Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij won the bunch sprint at the end of the twelfth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday. The fast-finisher beat Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL) and Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers) in Viadana. The overall stayed the same with Isaac Del Toro Romero (UAE Emirates XRG) holding onto the pink jersey.
Stage 12 finale
The sprinters also get their chance in the second week. The first half of the 172 kilometre stage 12 has a few short climbs where an early break can probably make its move, but the finale is flat.
From Modena, there are Cat 3 climbs await to Baiso, Trinita and Rossena, but from 95 kilometres the route has no up or down. At 28 kilometres from the finish, the riders will also pass through the finish in Viadana. Via a local circuit, the peloton comes back to finish in Viadana for the first time in Giro history. A bunch sprint is expected in the Lombardy town next to the Po River
The leaders line up at the start
The second attempt of the day to break away was the successful one. Three Italians: Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-VisitMalta) and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) made up the ‘break of the day’ and the sprinter’s teams, Visma | Lease a Bike and Alpecin-Deceuninck of top favourites Olav Kooij and Kaden Groves, were happy to see them go.
Through the old streets of Modena
The three didn’t get more than a 3 minute lead. They had no chance of the stage win, but they could fight for the intermediate sprints and the KOM points. Tarozzi netted the 9 mountain points on the Baiso and Borsea. He moved up to third place in the KOM competition. In the sprint, Pietrobon beat his fellow escapee Epis after they had a good battle for the points.
A bit of music for the peloton
During the stage, the rain started to fall on the riders, so there was more nervousness in the peloton. The wind also started to blow, but it was mostly a headwind, so echelons didn’t form. Fifty-five kilometres from the finish, the leaders had less than 1 minute. Only Pietrobon made it to the ‘Red Bull Kilometre’.
Could it be Olav Kooij’s day?
In the peloton, there were bonus seconds to be won behind Pietrobon. Kim Heiduk (INEOS Grenadiers) jumped away and so the pink jersey, Isaac Del Toro could only sprint for third place. The young Mexican took the 2 seconds bonus to bolster his hold on the pink jersey.
Maybe more points and another stage win for Mads Pedersen
On the finishing circuit in Viadana, the sprinter’s teams fought it out in preparation for a good place for the run-in. Picnic-PostNL, Lidl-Trek, Visma | Lease a Bike, Decathlon AG2R, Tudor and Alpecin-Deceuninck were all fighting to get to the front of the peloton, to position their top sprinters Casper Van Uden, Mads Pedersen, Olav Kooij, Sam Bennett, Maikel Zijlaard and Kaden Groves. They all wanted to set up the right train and so the final would be chaotic.
Lidl-Trek were working for a win
Wout van Aert hit the front with Olav Kooij on his wheel with just under 1 kilometre to go. The Belgian had to ride a very long lead-out of almost 700 metres. With 300 metres to go, Van Uden shot past the two Visma | Lease a Bike riders at top speed, but Kooij jumped onto his slipstream and then passed him again just before the finish line. Van Uden was second, Ben Turner third, points leader Mads Pedersen was fourth and Kaden Groves came in fifth. The GC changed a little as Richard Carapaz moved up to fourth overall.
Big lead-out for Kooij for Wout van Aert
Stage winner, Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I was waiting for this one! We came to the Giro also with Simon [Yates] being in good position on GC and Wout [van Aert] taking a stage win. In the two previous sprints, not everything went right. I’m really happy that today it’s all good. Only Wout can do such a long lead out like today’s. I got an extraordinary support. I have to thank my team-mates, also the rest of the team did a fantastic job. We didn’t want to be too far in the last curve. I could jump on the wheel of Casper [van Uden] and pass him. We try our best every day to win more and get a good GC with Simon.”
A stylish win for Olav Kooij
Overall leader, Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG): “It was a bit nervous. The truth is that I didn’t want to do the sprint. I wanted the leading group to get there first to spend the day more inconspicuously, but in the end it went differently. And thanks to the circumstances and the team, we were able to ride ahead and fight it out. I’m very happy to have these legs, to have this race situation and to be at the front. You can’t always do that and you have to appreciate it. My teammates are the best versions of themselves and I try to give that back to them. I’m still young, and I think sometimes I have to see it as a bit of a game.”
Kooij takes his second Giro d’Italia stage win after stage 9 in 2024
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Giro d’Italia Stage 12 Result:
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike in 3:55:40
2. Casper van Uden (Ned) Team Picnic PostNL
3. Ben Turner (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
4. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
5. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck
6. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis
7. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana Team
8. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
10. Matteo Moschetti Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 12:
1. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG in 42:43:28
2. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:33
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 1:09
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:11
6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:26
7. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 1:56
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 2:11
9. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 2:18
10. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 2:26
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