2023 Giro’s fifth first-time Grand Tour stage winner comes from huge breakaway

There have been several riders who earned their first Grand Tour victory in this year’s Giro d’Italia. Add Nico Denz (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) to the list of Jonathan Milan, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, David Bais and Ben Healy, as he took Thursday’s twelfth stage of the 106th Giro d’Italia from a large breakaway group. His triumph is the second consecutive German stage win. Geraint Thomas kept the pink jersey.

The Course

Two climbs were set 120 km from one another over the 185 km from Bra to Rivoli: a Cat. 3 soon after the start and the Cat. 2 Colle Braida peaking with 26 km to race.

A day for the breakaway at the #Giro?

Looks very likely with that climb just 30 kilometers from the finish. pic.twitter.com/6qFw5vkroE

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) May 18, 2023

It’s a rule of thumb that breakaways are relatively small in the first half of Grand Tours and rather large in the second half. On Thursday 30 chaps got free, Partrick Konrad (Austria/Bora-Hansgrohe) the best positioned on GC at +8:43.

In between the two climbs, a quartet flared off the front of the breakaway. Nico Denz, Alessandro Tonelli, Sebastian Berwick and Toms Skujiņš galloped towards Cat. 2 Colle Braida with serious intent. Back in what was now the first chase group, the quartet’s teammates, making up eight of the 26 riders, blocked bridging moves at the front.

#Giro
The gap between the leaders of the race and the chasing group is around 3 minutes. Peloton at 7'40"

63km to go – GO @Tomashuuns ! pic.twitter.com/Z6JiMZxDoU

— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) May 18, 2023

Tonelli dropped away on the Colle Braida, where the Latvian Skujiņš took the maximum KOM points. By the bottom of the descent, the trio was 3:30 ahead of their ex-breakmates. Denz attacked on a little rise 12 km from the line, dumping Berwick for two kilometres.

Denz led under the red kite. He wouldn’t relinquish the lead. Berwick sat up and shook his head. Bora-Hansgrohe carried the day.

Friday sees the Giro go into the mountains and end on the Cat. 1 Crans-Montana.

2023 Giro d’Italia Stage 12
1) Nico Denz (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) 4:18:11
2) Toms Skujiņš (Latvia/Trek-Segafredo) s.t.
3) Sebastian Berwick (Australia/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:03

2023 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Ineos) 49:02:05
2) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) +0:02
3) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:22