Giro d’Italia 2023: 'I would be really peed off' – Sean Kelly baffled by Davide Formolo tactics on Stage 12

Sean Kelly admits he would be “really peed off” if he was in GC hopeful Joao Almeida’s shoes at the Giro d’Italia after seeing his team-mate Davide Formolo lead a futile uphill chase on Stage 12 – less than 24 hours before the peloton roll out for the biggest mountain test yet. Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) started the day third in the general classification, just 22 seconds down on Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in the overall competition. With a brutal day to follow on Friday, featuring three Cat.

1 climbs, it was expected the GC teams would avoid burning any unnecessary matches on the run from Bra to Rivoli. Ad Instead, Formolo – and Primoz Roglic’s team-mate Sepp Kuss – got into the day’s chaotic 30-man breakaway. The 30-year-old was targeting a second stage win at the Giro but missed the key move as four riders – Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo), Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani), Sebastian Berwick (Israel-PremierTech) and eventual winner Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) – broke away.

Giro d'ItaliaGiro d’Italia Stage 8 as it happened – De Gendt defies the big names to take breakaway win14/05/2022 AT 07:20 But despite being over three minutes back in the second chase group, Formolo was spotted repeatedly driving the pace on the final Cat. 2 climb, prompting disbelief in the Eurosport commentary box. When asked how we would react if he was Almeida, Kelly said: “I would be really peed off.