Refresh
Despite having parcours seeming so finely poised between the break and the sprinter, this stage is looking firmly in the advantage of the latter.
The riders are hardly taking it easy though, despite these pleasant roads. The peloton are keeping the break at a stingy margin of just a minute and a half.
Those climbs aren’t for a while yet. Before then the riders get to enjoy another 60km of flat roads.
What’s interesting is which teams are doing the pace-setting. As expected, Sodal QuickStep are doing some of the work, for their two-stage winner Paul Magnier. But they’re also being aided by Unibet Rose Rockets, whose sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is one of the names you’d expect to struggle to stay in contention on the climbs.
The scene at the start earlier.
The gap’s growing still, now up to 1:30. That’s likely to be too big for anybody who has missed this break to bridge up to it now.
The pace is off in the peloton and no more attacks are forthcoming. It looks like we might have our break of the day.
Tarozzi was the Bardiani rider, and he’ joined the four leaders – Bais, Van der Lee, Geens and Juan Pedro López.
It’s not over yet though – several more are trying attacks.
It’s all bunched up at the front of the peloton again, but a Bardiani rider has managed to escape through the block.
A new group of four has gone up the road.
And now those 6 have been caught.
You might have thought the sprinters’ teams would be happy with such a small group, but they’re being chased down.
Those other three riders are Cavagna, Mifsud and Tarozzi.
The two chasers have caught Jacobs, along with 3 more riders
Jacobs is sill leading the race by himself, with Maestri and Dversnes Lavik chasing behind.
We’re entering good territory to form a break now, as the road is going a little uphill.
Fredrik Dversnes Lavik is one of those riders, and he’s bridged up to Maestri.
Already lots of other attacks have defied that attempted block and made new moves.
There was an attempt to block the road at the front of the peloton by teams not wanting anyone other than these two riders in the break, but that’s very unlikely to happen on a route like today’s.
He’s marked though, and instead Maestri counter attacks.
UAE are in the mood again – Bjerg attacks out of the peloton.
The others have been caught, but Jacobs remains out front.
He’s joined by Garcia Cortina, Maestri, and a Bardiani rider.
As was the case yesterday, Groupama begin the attacks with a move from Jacobs.
Here’s more on Van Eetvelt’s abandon, that has left the struggling Lotto with just four riders left in the race.
‘A major setback’ – Lotto-Intermarché down to four riders at the Giro d’Italia as leader crashes out
A second rider has also abandoned – Sjoerd Bax, who was so good in the time trial a couple of days ago when he finished fourth.
So brace yourself for another intense stage beginning once the flag drops!
While this is far from being as nailed-on a day for the breakaway as yesterday, there’s still likely to be multiple riders eager to get up the road from the start. They will, however, come up against sprinters’ team who will want a group of a manageable size, and one they believe they can bring back.
The riders have just been cheered off by the crowd assembled at Imperia for the unofficial start.
A reminder of what happened yesterday. It’s not implausible that Jhonatan Narváez might get into the break today to chase what would be a fourth stage win. He’s on a stunning hot streak at this Grand Tour, the kind that’s very rare for riders who are neither sprinters nor GC men.
Giro d’Italia: Jhonatan Narváez outduels Enric Mas for victory on stage 11 as breakaway prevails
Sadly, one rider hasn’t made it to the start today – Lennert Van Eetvelt. The young Belgian had looked in promising form, but crashed yesterday and has been deemed unfit to continue the race.
For more details about the route, have a read of our stage preview.
Like many stages of this Giro d’Italia, today’s parcours is intriguingly balanced. There’s enough climbing to give attackers hope of surviving, but not enough to rule out a bunch sprint either.
Hello and welcome to stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia!