Fernando Gaviria claimed his third victory of the Giro d’Italia as stage 12 ended in a sprint finish at Reggio Emilia, where Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) retained the overall race leader’s pink jersey.
Launched by Maximiliano Richeze, the 22-year-old became the first Colombian to collect three stage wins at a single edition of a Grand Tour.
Fernando Gaviria continued his fantastic Giro d’Italia debut on Thursday afternoon, when he roared first over the finish line in Reggio Emilia, after a tremendous job of Maximiliano Richeze, who provided a perfect lead-out despite a flat tire in the last 15 kilometers which forced him to chase hard the frantic peloton who was heading to the finish with 55 km/h.
Gaviria came out of his teammate’s wheel with 150 meters to go and powered to the line with remarkable ease, beating Jakub Mareczko (Wilier-Triestina) and Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe). The stage 12 dominant win helped the Colombian extend his already comfortable advantage to 80 points in the maglia ciclamino classification.
“I was a bit worried when Max punctured, because the finish was nearing and the bunch was going really fast. Fortunately, he came back and I was relieved, because Max is very important for me. I want to say a big thanks to him and to the entire team, they were wonderful today and I couldn’t have asked for more”, said Fernando Gaviria.
Giro d’Italia 2017 – stage 12 results (Forli – Reggio Emilia):
| 1 | Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) | 5:18:55 |
| 2 | Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina) | ,, |
| 3 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 5 | Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 6 | Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 7 | Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 8 | André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 10 | Roberto Ferrari (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 11 | Enrico Barbin (Bardiani CSF) | ,, |
| 12 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 13 | Aleksei Tcatevich (Gazprom – Rusvelo) | ,, |
| 14 | Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | ,, |
| 15 | Rüdiger Selig (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 16 | Luka Mezgec (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 17 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 18 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | ,, |
| 19 | Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani CSF) | +06” |
| 20 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
General classification after stage 12:
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 52:41:08 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +02’23” |
| 3 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’38” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) | +02’40” |
| 5 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +02’47” |
| 6 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +03’05” |
| 7 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +03’56” |
| 8 | Tanel Kangert (Astana) | +03’59” |
| 9 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) | +04’05” |
| 10 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +04’17” |
| 11 | Dario Cataldo (Astana) | +05’19” |
| 12 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +06’07” |
| 13 | Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) | +06’19” |
| 14 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +06’21” |
| 15 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +06’29” |
| 16 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +06’58” |
| 17 | Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) | +07’22” |
| 18 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +07’39” |
| 19 | Ben Hermans (BMC) | +08’12” |
| 20 | Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) | +13’23” |
