Giro d’Italia stage 12: Stefano Oldani sprints from three-up break to score first pro win

Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix) outsprinted Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) at the Giro d’Italia for his first pro win Thursday.

Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) finished third out of the breakaway trio that kicked clear at 55 kilometers to go in the Giro’s longest stage so far.

Oldani’s winning sprint booked Italy’s second victory at the race in two days and the second for his Alpecin-Fenix team. The Italian all-rounder timed his acceleration to perfection to win in front of massed crowds in coastal city Genoa.

Leemreize lit things up at one kilometer to go with a surprise move before Oldani pulled him back as the finishline loomed in sight. Oldani, Leemreize, and Rota slowed into a track-style cat and mouse for 200 meters before Leemreize went again.

Oldani motored around the Dutchman and held off a late challenge from Rota to score his first pro win.

The GC contenders enjoyed a snoozer in the Italian sun and rolled in to the line several minutes back. Trek-Segafredo controlled through most of the stage to book Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) into another day in pink.

The one significant classification shuffle was Wilco Kelderman’s (Bora-Hansgrohe) dive back into contention by making the day’s break and clicking back into the top-20 overall.

Tracking east out of Parma and toward coastal city Genoa, Thursday’s long lumpy stage looked set for a breakaway.

The 204km trek also took a sad tone as the Giro returned to the Passo del Bocco for the first time since Wouter Weylandt lost his life on its slopes in 2011.

#WW108 #Giro pic.twitter.com/jWCGgKyecS

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2022

As expected, the battle to make the day’s escape was as hot as the soaring spring sun.

It took 70km of relentless aggression before a blockbuster move went away. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Magnus Cort (EF Education EasyPost), Davide Ballerini (Quick-Step), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) were among the A-listers in the 24-rider group that also included Kelderman, Oldani and one more Alpecin-Fenix rider.

Ineos Grenadiers and UAE-Emirates kept its full crew back in the peloton to keep Richard Carapaz and João Almeida safe.

The escape only started breaking down at 55km to go as the race crested the second of three categorized climbs.

Rota kick-started the winning move with a solo attack before Oldani and Leemreize galloped across to form the threesome that would race toward the podium.

Van der Poel was active marking a move by Ballerini first before driving the pace in the reformed group oon after.

Alpecin-Fenix’s efforts to send riders over to Oldani evaporated on the final climb of the day. Van der Poel dropped on the steep narrow ascent and Oscar Riesbeek’s move was soon reeled in.

Meanwhile a top-class chase group of Kelderman, Mollema, Hamilton and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victoriorious) went hunting after the three leaders.

The foursome worked together well in the chase for the three leaders in the bumpy final to the stage, but Oldani, Leemreize and Rota rode strong to maintain a 40-second lead in the final 10km before the pre-sprint games began on the roads into Genova.

Next up: Another sprint before a GC-testing weekend

Another sprinter or breakaway stage rolls out of Sanremo on Friday before the GC action kicks back into gear over the weekend.

A tough medium mountain stage to Torino on Saturday looks set to see an initial shakeup before more movement among the favorites comes on the summit finish to Cogne on Sunday for stage 15.