Giro d’Italia 2023: Nico Denz wins after breakaway chaos, Geraint Thomas holds pink as mountains loom

Germany’s Nico Denz put in a dominant display from the breakaway to win a three-up sprint against Latvia’s Toms Skujins and rookie Australian Sebastian Berwick in Rivoli. The trio broke clear of a large 30-man move in the rain with a whopping 90km remaining before tearing strips out of each other on the final climb ahead of the flat finale. Geraint Thomas survived a third day in pink ahead of Friday’s summit showdown.

A huge 30-man breakaway animated an intriguing Stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia before four riders extricated themselves with 90km to go ahead of a well-deserved win for the German journeyman Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Denz went clear of a leading quartet on the final climb of the day alongside Latvia’s Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Australian debutant Sebastian Berwick (Israel-PremierTech) before getting the better of his two rivals in an exciting finish in Rivoli.

On a day of attrition for the general classification favourites, Welsh veteran Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the main peloton over eight minutes in arrears. Ahead of Friday’s summit showdown at Crans Montana, Thomas retained his slender two-second lead over Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).

With four men in the initial breakaway, Skujins’ Trek-Segafredo team guided Mads Pedersen to maximum points in the first intermediate sprint as the Dane moved to within 24 points of the maglia ciclamino of Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious).

Skujins put in several attacks on the Colle Briada but was unable to distance Berwick or Denz. The trio crested the summit 40km from the finish with a gap of over three minutes on a disorganised chase group – and despite a few hairy moments on the damp descent, they ensured it would be a three-way battle for spoils at the finish.

Denz tried his luck on an uphill incline with 12km remaining but Skujins latched on and Berwick dug deep to fight back into contention. But the big German – riding his sixth Giro d’Italia – proved the strongest in the final sprint to take an emotional win, five years after he missed out to Matej Mohoric in Stage 10 of the 2018 edition of the race.

“I don’t know what to say – it’s really big for me and I’m obviously super proud,” Denz said. “First of all, I was not supposed to be in the breakaway but I got the green light to go. I looked around me and was surrounded by just monsters so I thought I’d just help [Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate] Konnie [Patrick Konrad] for the win.

“I knew I wanted to attack on a little kicker, which I did. Obviously, everything came back together but I have a fast finish and that saved me in the end. I’m over the moon right now.”

More to follow.

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