Tour of Italy: Germany’s Nico Denz wins after a long breakaway, the status quo between the favourites

The British from INEOS Grenadiers remains at the head of the general classification, whose podium has not changed. Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) came second, two seconds away, while Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates Team) completed the podium with a time of 22 seconds.

Stage twelve looked promising for the nomads, with two categorized climbs including Colle Braida (10.7km at 5.9%) less than thirty kilometers from the finish. Thirty riders broke away from the peloton at the start of the race, and the quartet showed up mid-race, including Toms Scoggins, Nico Danes and Sebastian Berwick, among others.

Only these three riders remained after the climb of Colle Braida, where the favourites had been neutralised. Skujins and Denz tried to slide at Berwick in the final fifteen kilometres, but the New Zealander got back on their wheels to take the race.

In the final that the riders had the chance to learn about during the stage, the sprint took off 200 meters from the line. Nico Denz reacted to the start of his rivals and never got the better of them. He finished ahead of Toms Scoggins, just a few lengths ahead of Sebastian Berwick, to claim his fourth career win, the most prestigious and his first of the season. In group two, Ilan van Wilder (Soudal-Quick Step) finished sixth in the stage.

The leaders of the general classification arrived grouped together, some eight minutes behind the winner of the day. They lived through a transitional day, refusing to deal with it before a possible day.

On Friday, the climbers will find favorable ground already on the occasion of the thirteenth stage: a pass through the Alps and through Switzerland, with three category 1 passes including Crans-Montana as a finish after 199 kilometers of Borgofranco Drunk.