Olav Kooij wins the sprint of the twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia

Transition stage in the Giro d'Italia with a completely flat finish in which only the uncertainty about the possible appearance of the wind could prevent a massive sprint that eventually occurred, and in which Olav Kooij won thanks to an excellent launch by Wout van Aert.

Van Aert doesn't win but makes Visma's fast man, Olav Kooij, win stage 12 of the Giro

A day without much history in the twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia that ran between Modena and Viadana, covering 172 kilometers. A stage with a predictable sprint finish unless the likely appearance of crosswinds in the final part prevented it, a meteor that ultimately did not occur despite some attempts to break away from the race at some point.

With this scenario, the breakaway of the day was destined for the modest riders. Only three cyclists were part of it: Epis, Pietrobon, and Tarozzi. Despite not being dangerous riders, the peloton did not want to speculate and never let them have more than 3 minutes of advantage.

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The first part of the stage passed through hilly terrain where two 3rd category climbs were ascended, with no significance for the development of the stage. We only experienced some moments of uncertainty when the peloton rode in a single file due to the forecast combined with narrow roads. A very inappropriate situation to have a breakdown like the puncture suffered by Juan Ayuso, which forced him to make a strong effort to return to the safety of the peloton's head.

Also interesting was the passage through the Red Bull KM, with Tarozzi resisting being caught in the breakaway. INEOS Grenadiers' rider Kim Heiduk jumped from the peloton to prevent others from taking the bonus seconds and potentially harming their leader, and the remaining bonus for third place was taken by a tremendous Isaac del Toro who continues to demonstrate an impressive ease.

Only the outcome of the final sprint remained to be known. The peloton arrived at the last kilometer with Visma-Lease a Bike perfectly positioned. Wout van Aert took over as the lead-out man and set a frantic pace that set everything up for Olav Kooij, who launched a powerful sprint. Casper van Uden opened up to launch his sprint, with Groves and Pedersen following closely behind. They reached the finish line with the four riders practically side by side in a sprint that was impeccably clean, although none of them could beat Olav Kooij, who took advantage of the perfect lead-out by Van Aert.

Stage 12 Classification

1. Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) 3h55'40''
2. Casper van Uden (Picnic-PostNL) +00''
3. Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers) +00''
4. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +00''
5. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00''
6. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) +00''
7. Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) +00''
8. Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) +00''
9. Matevz Govekar (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
10. Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) +00''

General Classification

1. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 42h43'28''
2. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +33''
3. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'09''
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1'09''
5. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) 1'11''
6. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1'26''
7. Derek Gee (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 1'26''
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2'11''
9. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2'18''
10. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +2'26''