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

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.

Ad 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).

Giro d'ItaliaGeoghegan Hart suffers fractured hip in horror Giro crash19 HOURS AGO 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.