Great show in the walls stage at the Giro d’Italia 2024. The twelfth stage, arriving in Fano, saw the show stamped by Julian Alaphilippe: it was the most anticipated and did not betray expectations with a truly phenomenal day. Always on the attack, the Frenchman arrived alone at the finish line and grabbed his first triumph in the Corsa Rosa. Tadej Pogacar remains in the Pink Jersey without worriesalways in control.
It should have been a breakaway day and a breakaway day it was, with attacks that started from kilometer 0. The situation was constantly evolving but in the end two men managed to make a difference: Mirco Masters (Team Polti Kometa) e Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), while behind them was formed a large group with Edoardo Affini and Attila Valter (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Simon Clarke (Israel – Premier Tech), Benjamin Thomas and Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Jhonatan Narvaez and Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), Ewan Costiou and Alessandro Verre (Arkéa – B&B Hotels), Quinten Hermans and Tobias Bayer (Alpecin – Deceuninck), Simone Velasco and Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Michael Valgren and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education – EasyPost), Lilian Calmejane and Dion Smith (Intermarché – Wanty), Dion Smith (Intermarché – Wanty), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Matteo Trentin and Alexander Kamp (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Laurence Pithie and Cyril Barthe (Groupama – FDJ), Nairo Quintana and Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar Team), Jan Hirt and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step), Gijs Leemereize and Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Michael Hepburn and Luka Mezgec (Team Jayco AlUla), Davide Piganzoli (Team Polti Kometa), Domenico Pozzovivo and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè), Jasha Sutterlin (Bahrain-Victorious).
The two in front found the right agreement continuing their action as a couple, while behind, as there were runners also interested in the general classification, there wasn’t much collaboration and therefore, along the way, the large chasing platoon was broken up. Remaining are Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling), Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan), Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Michael Valgren (EF Education-Easypost), Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty) and Gijs Leemreize (dsm firmenich-PostNL) to try to catch up to the pair in front, while the other riders were caught by the group.
Alaphilippe overtook Maestri on the decisive climb of Monte Giove and he left alone, becoming unreachable for everyone. Narvaez and Hermans tried to reach the transalpine, but the gap was too wide to close. Great joy for the Frenchman who celebrates with arms raised in front of Narvaez, Hermans, Valgren, with fifth the best of the Italians, Christian Scaroni. Also in the top-10 were Matteo Trentin, sixth, and a super Mirco Maestri, ninth. In the peloton, Bahrain-Victorious kept the situation under control, while there was no duel between the big names uphill: everything was postponed to the weekend.
