Breakaway wins the day as Denz outpowers Berwick in final sprint at Giro

It was a career win for Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia, as he triumphed in the three-up sprint against Tom Skuijns (Trek-Segafredo) and Australian Sebastian Berwick (Israel-Premier Tech) after forcing a split in the large early breakaway.

BORA - hansgrohe's German rider Nico Denz celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win, ahead of Trek - Segafredo's Latvian rider Toms Skujins (L), the twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 cycling race, 179 km between Bra and Rivoli, on May 18, 2023. (Photo by Luca Bettini / AFP) (Photo by LUCA BETTINI/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / LUCA BETTINI/AFP via Getty Images

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The German, Denz, was the fastest in the final sprint to the line in Rivoli, making the most of an opportunity that came from a 30-man breakaway that had formed early in the stage.

Trek-Segafredo had numbers in the move, and used a roundabout to slow the pace and allow a group of five to slip away off the front of the group vying for stage honours with 95 kilometres remaining.

Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) and Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) were present, but Batistella was physically sick while riding and dropped off the pace, while Tonelli couldn’t follow a tough pace set by Berwick on the late category-2 climb of Colle Braida, leaving the final three to fight it out for the win.

It was Denz who attacked with 12 kilometres remaining to put his rivals in difficulty, then led out the sprint, winning comfortably in the end to take his maiden Grand Tour stage win.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s really big for me, and obviously, I’m super proud," said Denz.

“I wasn’t supposed to be in the breakaway. When I looked around, there were just monsters around – only big guys. I thought it was going to be difficult for me to do something, and I was thinking I could help Konrad (teammate Patrick Konrad) to win the stage. But the collaboration was really, really bad, and I was still going at the front, and we suddenly had a gap and fully pushed on.

“On the last climb, I was on my very limit. I barely made it over the top. Once I achieved that, I knew there was a kicker, and I had to throw everything in to attack there. Obviously, everything came back together, but I also have quite a fast finish and that saved me in the end. I’m over the moon right now.”

The peloton crossed the finish line over eight minutes down as Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) retained the pink jersey on a day that saw no change to the top ten riders of the general classification.

The Giro d'Italia continues with the first big mountain test for the peloton, the 199-kilometre stage to Crans-Montana to journey into Switzerland. Watch first on SBS On Demand from 6.50pm AEST, with the SBS VICELAND beginning at 8.30pm AEST.